Beginning June 1, 2016, Sheriff’s deputies of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office will begin wearing a new uniform and a new patch. The new uniforms will be dark blue shirts and trousers and will be worn with a new dark blue patch.
When Sheriff Bill Prim took office, he asked members of the department for recommendations on changes and for feedback on what the department was doing well and what could be improved. A strong sentiment was expressed by deputies within the Patrol Division to change their uniforms. The overwhelming reason expressed was officer safety. The darker shirt presents a less visible target than the lighter shirt and white shirts worn by the ranks of Sergeant and above.
With this change, there will be cost savings. The new shirts cost $5 less and the trousers will be $13 less. The change in the deputy’s uniform trouser is that the blue stripe down the leg will be removed. This blue stripe required special tailoring.
Sheriff’s deputies are given an annual uniform allowance to purchase new uniforms and other needed duty gear. The costs of the new uniforms and updated patches come out of each deputy’s allotted credit, requiring no additional expenditure from the county budget.
The patch previously worn was designed and instituted in 2001. Before the yellow and blue patch with the 17 stars for the 17 townships was implemented, members of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office wore a patch that resembled Lake County’s. The change in the patch in 2001 met some resistance. The new patch was designed by a committee of Sheriff’s deputies, voted on and approved by a majority of deputies and approved by the Sheriff’s Office Administration.
The Sheriff’s Office has been preparing for this change for more than three months. During the month of June, members of the public may see some older light blue uniforms as not all new uniform orders have been completed. A month of transition will occur and beginning July 1, 2016, the old blue uniforms will be “officially” retired for the Sheriff’s deputies of McHenry County.
The Sheriff’s Office has placed photos of the new uniforms on our website: www.mchenrysheriff.org and will be sharing photos of the new uniform look on our social media pages: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
