Three Factors To Consider When You're Deciding On How Many Police Windbreakers To Order

When you consider all the equipment that a police department has to procure, it's easy to pay little attention to relatively minor things like windbreakers. But if you want to ensure that the morale of police officers doesn't plummet because they're being unnecessarily exposed to the elements, it's important to provide clothing for every likely weather situation. Pay special attention to these three factors when you're deciding on how many police windbreakers to order.

Whether Your Department Mainly Deals With Traffic Crime

Whether or not a police traffic stop ends in an arrest, the officer making it will have to spend a lot of time outside the car. By contrast, other situations such as domestic disputes usually involve a decent amount of time to warm up indoors.

To figure out how often local police officers deal with traffic stops relative to other departments, you can go by your experience, talk to a dispatcher, or sift through your department's records. More frequent traffic stops usually means that ordering more windbreakers is a good idea.

Tropical Storm Frequency In Your Area

Since police officers can't simply stay indoors when a major storm comes knocking, it's absolutely vital that the best protective equipment is available. Especially if you get a lot of tropical storms with very high wind speeds instead of normal thunderstorms, windbreakers that are thick and sturdy enough to protect all the equipment an officer wears are very valuable things to have.

So pay attention if your department is near a coast that gets a lot of hurricanes and tropical storms. Look through your area's weather history to see how often storms with high wind speeds are a problem.

How Necessary It Is To Have Lots Of Officers On Patrol At Night

Some departments in relatively peaceful areas can get away with having a skeleton patrol crew at night. However, if you're forced to have a lot of police officers on patrol at all hours, nighttime chilliness is a significant threat to morale and efficiency.

Even in warmer months that sport scalding hot temperatures in the afternoon, it isn't rare to see cold and windy nights. Therefore, don't ignore any windbreaker shortage you have because it's not constantly snowing yet. 

In contrast to heavy winter coats, windbreakers can be used for a wide variety of weather situations. So even if the cost of obtaining them seems prohibitive, always consider how much more often they'll be used than other types of protective clothing.

For more information about the supplies your police department needs, contact a company like Northern Security Supply Inc.