Rehoboth police get new uniforms

Rehoboth Beach police officers are sporting a new look; their traditional light blue uniforms have been ditched in favor of new, black and green threads.

The new uniforms come with black shirts, olive green pants with a black stripe and a black hat. The badges have been redesigned along with the shoulder patch, which depicts a lighthouse in a diamond configuration, a nod to one of Delaware’s nicknames coined by Thomas Jefferson, The Diamond State. Full-time officers began wearing the new uniforms March 4.

Chief Keith Banks said seasonal officers – who patrol on bicycle – will have a  variation on the basic uniform, with black and green polo-style shirts with shorts, which will be  more practical for them.

Banks said the department will also phase in new cars that will also be black, matching the color scheme of the uniforms.

The idea of new uniforms started as a request by the nighttime officers to have a uniform that differentiated them from the daytime and seasonal officers, Banks said. The other officers also supported a change in uniforms, and the city put $45,000 in the 2012-13 budget for the uniforms.

The selection of the colors, Banks said, was determined through meetings between the Rehoboth police and their union.