West Midlands project aims to break barriers between public and police
Fashion Police recreates West Midlands Police Uniforms to challenge perceptions on the people behind the uniform
The creators of a new project in the West Midlands which aims to tell the stories of the people behind police uniforms say they hope it'll challenge perceptions of police.
Fashion Police - set up by West Midlands Police and Birmingham City University (BCU) - sees uniforms from across the decades recreated in a bid to improve understanding of the role of police.
We spoke to Corinne Brazier, the heritage manager at West Midlands Police - she tells us how the project's breaking down barriers.
"If you imagine some of the uniforms, some of the footage that particularly young people will see online, it's officers in uniforms that look confrontational and aggressive.
"We wanted to show who those people are and that they are real people like you and I who are maybe scared and want to go home to their children."
Corinne says it's important to remind people who police officers are.
"Police officers are no different from anyone else, they're just members of society. They're real people doing a really important job."
"Going into schools with some of these materials will help young people challenge those perceptions and perhaps build confidence and trust in policing."
Corinne tells us what working on the project taught her about policing in our region.
"We found a first-hand account of policing from 1840 which was incredible.
"So to read that officer's perspective of what life was like, was policing was like - and he talks about elements of the uniform - was fascinating."
Toby Richardson's a recent BCU fashion graduate and worked on the uniforms.
He tells us what he learned from working on the project.
"Just seeing how things develop through time so going right back to the early garments and then seeing how the circumstances change over time - how the garments adapt to it, like when women were allowed into the forces."
The uniforms are on display at the West Midlands Police Museum in Birmingham.