March/April 2008

In 2006, a grassroots effort resulted in the Glendale Heights, IL police department changing uniforms for its 55 sworn officers.

“One of our sergeants had a contact with someone at the manufacturer and he asked the chief if he could give our supervisory staff a presentation,” says Heidi Dziedzic, an administrator who handles all of the uniform ordering for the department. “That was done in May 2006. At that time, it was decided that one of the other sergeants would do a wear test for the department.”

The sergeant wore the uniform for two months.

“At our staff meeting in August, we did an inspection, and his only negative comment was that the pants were a little warm in the summer because they’re a poly-wool blend. Other than that, he said everything was comfortable, washed well, and was a quality-made uniform.”

The chief authorized the switch, but asked Dziedzic to shop smart, considering the department’s uniform budget.

“Our annual budget for uniforms, including body armor, funding to replenish patches, and allowances for detectives’ clothing, is $41,300,” she says. “Last year it was $36,410. The budget could fluctuate depending on the price of body armor because they’re $400 apiece.”

Dziedzic figured the best strategy was to send RFPs to as many suppliers as possible. Also, she made a conscious decision to not limit herself to suppliers in her immediate geography.

“We went from a single vendor provider to four providers,” she says. “Instead of taking the lowest overall vendor, we chose the lowest vendor for each item.” The department’s vendor list now includes 5.11 Tactical, Galls, Inc., Uniformity, Inc. and Kale Uniforms.

Organizing the switch was a tricky task.

“I arranged for all four reps to come here and measure all of our employees,” she says. “Even though that happened, the sizes were off sometimes. When it came to ordering, it was a nightmare. I used one vendor for 10 years and now I’m working with four.”

Plus, the previous vendor had a storefront location that was nearby and one sizing range. This is not the case in the new world.

“Now, we have four vendors who have four different sizing ranges,” Dziedzic says. “We have a lot of returns because of sizing or the wrong color for metal buttons. One of the vendors is out of state, two are semi-local, and one is within 50 miles, but we’ve never gone there.”

Because the vendors aren’t local, the process for officers to get new uniforms had to change. In the past, they would get a purchase order and buy their uniforms directly from the supplier.

“Now they get a form, check off what they want, get it approved by the sergeant, and then the form goes to me and I place the order,” Dziedzic says. “We place orders twice a year unless something breaks.”

Dziedzic thinks the new process is easier for the officers.

“No one has to go to a storefront and that’s a benefit,” she says. “It’s simply in their mailbox or in the back of roll call, where we have room to lay things out.”

For her, things aren’t quite as simple.

“I have 92 employees who are coming to me asking ‘When’s this coming in?’, ‘Why doesn’t this fit?’ and lots of other questions,” Dziedzic says. “They call me ‘Radar’ from M.A.S.H. because I can find anything you need.”

In addition to the daily uniforms, Glendale Heights switched outerwear as well.

“We no longer do leather jackets. Instead, they’re issued the four-in-one jacket that can be worn all year long,” Dziedzic says. “It’s been well-received, but some of the older guys like the look and feel of a leather jacket, especially in the cold weather months here in Chicago. They got rid of the old Elmer Fudd-type hat and replaced it with the option to wear a stocking knit cap or, in severe weather, ski masks.”

Now that the new uniforms have been in place for awhile, she plans to make some changes next time the department places an order. “I’m going to revise the order form the officers use,” she says. “Now that they have worn the uniforms for almost a year, they can tell me what size they want. That way, if there are sizing problems, it will be on the officer [to make it right].” After an officer in January returned a pair of pants he had received in October, she also plans to institute a 14-day deadline for returns.

Minor complaints aside, Dziedzic says the uniform change has yielded positive results.

“It’s been nice for morale,” she says. “Officers wanted the chief to make changes and the uniform was one of them. That change has been made, and it improves morale.”