My Blue Polyester Prison

July 8, 2015 9:25 AM

The NYPD uniform is as iconic as it is polarizing. Wearing it makes me a target for both praise and censure—neither of which I, in most cases, did anything to deserve. My character becomes a many-sided die, the cast contingent on the preconceptions and experiences of whoever is looking. With each person I encounter I wonder how it’s going to be: Am I an oaf? A hero? A pawn? A tyrant?

An anonymous female NYPD officer reflects on what it's like to wear the blue.
posted by Cash4Lead (23 comments total)

That's an excellent piece. She is a really good writer, and obviously a very compassionate and thoughtful person.
posted by jayder at 9:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [7 favorites]

I want to read so much more from her. I want so very badly to know how and why she became a cop.
posted by penduluum at 9:56 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Why are the uniforms made of polyester/rayon? That's a horrible idea. Maybe they could do their jobs better with cotton ones. I'm not being sarcastic btw.
posted by ChuckRamone at 10:20 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

~ChuckRamone: I suspect the NYPD has its reasons. I mean, look at what happened when the Yankees went with cotton uniforms.
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:31 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Why are the uniforms made of polyester/rayon? That's a horrible idea.

So are military uniforms. The reason is pretty simple; synthetics keep a crease better, wrinkle less, need less pressing, will generally look neater and more, well, uniform even at the end of 8 hours on duty. (And polyester is harder-wearing than cotton.)
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 10:46 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Why are the uniforms made of polyester/rayon? That's a horrible idea.

I had a polyester uniform working at Friendly's. I'd imagine it's because it never wrinkles and you can wash it by just shaking it under a hose, if you need to.
posted by xingcat at 10:52 AM on July 8, 2015

can't they use some kind of wrinkle-free cotton twill weave or something like that? or maybe these soldiers and officers should be introduced to some old school ironing and washing. that would whip them into shape even more. also, less overheated and sweaty and itchy can't be a bad thing. when I look back on my days wearing "work clothes," usually cotton/poly blend stuff, they were hellishly hot and uncomfortable, and if I had to do it again, I'd go all cotton.
posted by ChuckRamone at 10:58 AM on July 8, 2015

This was great; it reminded me of something I've always wondered. There are countless memoirs from authors who served in the military, including some of the finest nonfiction in the English language, but we don't have a corresponding number of quality works from police officers. There was Blue Blood, but I can't recall another well-spoken-of work. Maybe I'm completely wrong about this, but I've always wondered how that is.

Of course, there's the matter of the draft, which picks up whole generations of young men, so there are more sheer numbers of writers with military experience. Plus there's a prejudice against employing people with higher IQs in some parts of American policing. Along with that, there may be a forest of legal issues for a police memoirist who wants to recount real events. Nonetheless, I can't help feeling that I should know of more such writers as this woman.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:02 AM on July 8, 2015

Sometimes I feel like a cog in some obscene apparatus that few people understand and no one can control, a punch-card in the Turing Machine of big money and institutional racism and human misery.

That is an image.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:06 AM on July 8, 2015 [11 favorites]

Most sport jerseys are made of polyester/rayon as well. I would think there are decent performance reasons for this, including keeping the players cool.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:23 AM on July 8, 2015

~Countess Elena: There's Cop in the Hood by Peter Moskos, but he was basically moonlighting as a police officer while he was getting his Ph.D. in sociology. (In fact, I think the book was just a popularized version of his dissertation.) But I don't know of many books by lifelong cops.
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:28 AM on July 8, 2015

Countess Elena: Close Pursuit by Carsten Stroud is a fine nonfiction book about the NYPD.
posted by jonmc at 11:31 AM on July 8, 2015

Back in the 90's Connie Fletcher wrote two good books about being a police officer, "What Cops Know: Cops Talk About What They Do, How They Do It, and What It Does to Them", and "Pure Cop: Cop Talk from the Street ..." .
Amazon author page
posted by King Sky Prawn at 11:59 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

"“I don’t expect you to be able to appreciate this, but it was a Patek Philippe.”"

I would be like, "So you spell that C-A-S-I-O, right?" UGGGGGH.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:36 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

This was great; it reminded me of something I've always wondered. There are countless memoirs from authors who served in the military, including some of the finest nonfiction in the English language, but we don't have a corresponding number of quality works from police officers. There was Blue Blood, but I can't recall another well-spoken-of work. Maybe I'm completely wrong about this, but I've always wondered how that is.

a couple of thoughts on this. first, military service tends to be a career less often than law enforcement service. I think it is very hard to write a book while you are actually in the military or still working in law enforcement. you don't have time or the energy to do it.

I've noticed this phenomenon in law as well. good memoirs of law practice are very rare. with a few exceptions, lawyers who are the most successful (and thus would likely have the most interesting stories and insights about law) simply don't have the time to write about it. the stories that these lawyers take to the grave is a huge loss.
posted by jayder at 12:44 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's also pretty hard to write a book about your job while you're employed in it, especially if it requires any contact with the public. "I wasn't talking about you! That was... a composite character."

David Simon wrote the book Homicide was based on, called -- curiously -- Homicide. He's not a cop, but was "embedded" with a Baltimore homicide unit for a year.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:04 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think the last couple of paragraphs gives some insight into why she wanted to do the job - despite the other shit the job forces her to eat, here she is able to step in when it counts for somebody.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:38 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

But I suppose it's something that I should feel pleasantly surprised by someone this thoughtful doing this job.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:47 PM on July 8, 2015

There are countless memoirs from authors who served in the military, including some of the finest nonfiction in the English language, but we don't have a corresponding number of quality works from police officers.

Omertà.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:52 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

If only every NYPD officer were as literate and thoughtful as this one... really well written and I'd love to read more from her as well.
posted by Maias at 4:59 PM on July 8, 2015

The answer to thr question about why more people on the job don't bring it up is summed up by Adrian Schoolcraft's experience (previously).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:06 PM on July 8, 2015 [4 favorites]

This was pretty great and humanizing.

Thanks for this.
posted by TheLittlePrince at 8:49 PM on July 8, 2015

Polyester is gross. No wonder they're so angry all the time.
posted by moorooka at 12:46 AM on July 9, 2015