The Uganda Police have ditched the all white uniforms for traffic officers.
The new uniforms were unveiled on Monday at the Police Headquarters in Naguru, a Kampala suburb by Assistant Inspector General of Police Asan Kasingye.
“Each officer will be given two pairs of uniform and starting tomorrow, they will be donning the new uniforms. The white girders will help prevent water from getting into the shoes of the officers,” Kasingye said while unveiling the new uniforms.
The all-white traffic police uniform will now be replaced by a khaki one with an ashe- white beret, belt and girder whereas female officers will have special caps.
Debate to change traffic uniform according to sources started in 2019 after images of traffic officers in tight attires made rounds of social media. Another reason why police top management decided to adopt khaki which has been for general duty police officers is that some personnel are allegedly shabby and unable to keep the uniforms neat.
“Some traffic officers are often shabby in white uniforms while others could wear tight attires and drivers could make fun of them on roads. To avoid the embarrassment, the leadership resolved to switch white for khaki,” the source said.
Traffic police spokesperson Charles Ssebambulidde who is also a former traffic operations commander said he was yet to get any communication about the change of uniforms.
Ssebambulidde confirmed that there was a proposal to change the uniforms but he was not aware of its maturity.
However, a source at Nateete police station which also serves as headquarters for traffic personnel said khaki uniform has already been adopted by traffic leadership including the director Commissioner Lawrence Niwabiine.
CP Niwabiine has addressed the media three times donned in khaki uniform encrypted traffic.
“They were changed two years ago by the police uniform committee, we are waiting for them to be distributed to us once they are given out you will see officers of traffic directorate in the whole country putting them on,” a source at Nateete said.
Traffic police follow are in category of specialized units just like Counter-Terrorism-CT, Very Important Persons Protection Unit –VIPPU, Field Force Unit –FFU, Marine and Canine which have different uniforms.
A police source said that even though traffic officers will be wearing khaki uniform, they will have specific features purposely to differentiate them from general duty police personnel.
