Police uniforms to reportedly add colour codes

System of codes and numbers would not, however, allow for the identification of individual officers

The Justice Ministry is reportedly working with police on a plan that would use a mixture of colour codes and numbers on an officer’s uniform to identify their function, rather than a badge or collar number that reveals their identity. It is presumably an effort to avoid cops being individually identified.

The idea is the brain child of the police chief, according to Jyllands-Posten newspaper. Officers themselves have long resisted the idea of numbers on their uniforms. The police promised in January 2011 to look at methods to better identify officers after a number of citizen complaints against the department had to be dropped because there was no way to identify the individual officers involved. Police said that they submitted the colour-coding scheme to the Justice Ministry “a long time ago”.

Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), the justice minister, promised to clarify the situation “within a few months”.