The New Zealand Police provides a uniform for Office of Constable employees that is compulsory wear for most staff whilst on duty. As part of a commercial tender process for the development, manufacture and supply of new uniform operational trousers for New Zealand Police constabulary staff an end user wear trial with operational staff was conducted. A visual evaluation of selected trial garments before and after wear was undertaken in conjunction with an evaluation of technical test results from independent certified laboratories, of the trouser fabrics against selected test methods. The wear trial took place over a period of one year and involved 96 staff, representing 12 workgroups, in four police districts, wearing three sample trousers for a period of four months each. At the end of each trial period participants completed an on-line survey with their responses. A further smaller group trialled one style for the full year long trial period. Of the participants recruited 78% were male and 22% were female. The three trouser styles worn were distributed so 33% of the trial participants were allocated one of the three styles during each season. Of the total number of participants that started the trial 87% went on to complete the full trial and survey.
The wear trial responses showed that for some trouser styles there was more variation amongst participant response than for others. However none of the trousers were rated as unacceptable. Trouser A and B had very similar results but overall trouser B scored the highest mean ratings in all factors apart from appearance retention and design/appearance/fit where it rated the same as trouser A. Trouser C had the lowest mean score in all aspects apart from care of trousers where it had the same rating as trouser A. Of all the workgroups, dog section/commercial vehicle investigation unit (CVIU) and maritime unit considered the three trousers to be less acceptable overall than the other workgroups. Of the 83 participants who completed the trial, 27.7% preferred trouser A, with a similar number preferring trouser B overall (26.5%). Trouser C was the least preferred of the trial trousers (10.8%), slightly ahead of the current issue trouser (6.0%). Of those staff that normally wore overalls, about three quarters would choose to remain with overalls, rather than change to a shirt and trousers.
Comparison of the three trousers and garment fabrics in both the technical laboratory testing (included abrasion resistance, colour fastness, tensile strength, tear strength, air permeability) and visual evaluation and through the wear trial showed no one trouser performed best in all areas. The trouser fabric technical test results for trouser A (polyester/wool twill fabric) more closely aligned with the results from the visual evaluation of the trial garments after wear. Trouser A had the best overall appearance retention of the three trousers, had good technical fabric results and similar results to trouser B (polyester/cotton twill fabric) in the wear trial. Trouser B and trouser C showed significant colour loss from abrasion of the fabric surface after wear. These issues were due in part to the effect of the operational appointments carried on the police duty belt and illustrated that laboratory technical tests should be used in conjunction with wear trials as standard test methods may not always replicate real world conditions and interactions with other police uniform and equipment items.
