The Eyes of the Law: Police Sunglasses
While sunglasses are seen as vital fashion accessories, they serve a very useful purpose as well, especially for individuals in certain professions that require frequent work outside in all elements. For these workers, sunglasses not only protect the eyes from the sun, but from rain, snow, wind and every other quality of nature. Police sunglasses are no different. While officers may not need sunglasses while driving in a cruiser or working at a desk, once they are outside patrolling the streets, police sunglasses become a necessary piece of their uniforms, both aiding their jobs and protecting their lives.
In the Lens
Police sunglasses can differ based on the use. In other words, an officer may need different pairs of sunglasses depending on what he or she is doing. Some sunglasses are made specifically for the shooting range or other situations in which the officer expects gunfire. Specific government standards for UV protection and impact resistance must be achieved for all police sunglasses, especially those used on a shooting range. These police sunglasses will also feature special nose pieces to prevent slippage, polycarbonate lenses with anti-fog coating for the ultimate in impact protection and shatterproof sight, specially-designed earpieces, distortion-free clarity and extended lower and lateral fields of vision and black frames.
Many police sunglasses intended for shooting ranges are also intended for special operations teams, including SWAT teams and anti-terrorist teams. These sunglasses are compatible with most police helmets and helmet-mounted night vision optics. They also include earpieces built to not interfere with hearing-protection devices. The lenses themselves protect the officer not only from UV rays, but from blue light as well and other consequences from chemicals and explosions. Some truly advanced police sunglasses can convert into goggles, useful for officers who may be repelling from helicopters or experiencing severe climate changes.
Even everyday police sunglasses are specialized. The lenses must still meet certain standards for impact-protection, and the overall darkness of the lenses not only protects the eyes of the officer, but creates a feeling of intimidation for criminals. They are always built for comfort, and some models are even designed for narrow faces or female officers, meaning even those with smaller statures and bone structures can benefit from the advanced technology and remain safe. Police sunglasses can further be customized with the use of replacement lenses; officers can select from a wide variety of colors depending on their job assignments, or collect all of them if they hope to achieve more responsibilities.
