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Checkerboard Cap Band

Reference

  • U04-01 [Effective Date: 11 March 2020]
    • Removable checkerboard cap band will be worn from 1 November through 30 April.
  • Indiana Law Enforcement Memorial - Official - pdf
  • Wikipedia: Sillitoe tartan

Articles

  • History of the “Checkered Band” of the Chicago Police Department 1)
    • The “checkered band” on hats worn by Chicago Police Department officers was introduced in May 1967 by Superintendent O.W. Wilson. The design was based on the three-layer “Sillitoe Tartan” first used in 1932 by the Glasgow Police Department in Scotland and named after Chief Constable Percy J. Sillitoe.

      Supt. Wilson chose to use a two-layer pattern, with white and dark blue for police officers, and yellow and dark blue for supervisors. Security guards in Chicago were prohibited from using this hat design as a means to immediately distinguish city police officers from private security guards.

      Only a few departments in the United States wear a checkered band on their uniform hats, including the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department as well as a few Chicago suburban agencies and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police in Pennsylvania, who wear the three-layer version.
1)
“History of the ‘Checkered Band’ of the Chicago Police Department.” Indiana Law Enforcement Memorial. Indiana Law Enforcement Memorial, November 27, 2018. https://inlem.org/blog/checkered-band.