Overloaded:
how the New South Wales police accoutrement belt plagues its wearers

By Sandra Soldo

Hundreds of Police Association of NSW members responded to their union’s call last May to outline the difficulties they had encountered wearing police-issue accoutrement belts. Written responses grew to 684, after the first 500 arrived within only days. The association also received as many as 100 verbal responses. The members’ information formed the basis for a report. It appears below, with editing.

The consensus is that police officers generally find the accoutrement belt uncomfortable to wear, owing to its inflexibility. Even after treatment with leather dressing, and normal wear and tear, the belt remains stiff and uncomfortable. It has limited adjustment capacity, which means that, in many cases, it is worn either too tightly, or too loosely; and, for greater comfort, it does not allow for any “give” around the waist.

This lack of flexibility causes the belt to dig into the lower back and hips when the wearer is seated. Causing great discomfort, the belt rubs against the waist when one gets in and out of police cars. In some busy highway patrols, officers might enter and exit their vehicles 20 to 40 times during a shift.

The weight and awkwardness of the appointments also make the belt uncomfortable to wear. Consider the equipment officers are required to wear on it: Glock, OC spray, spare magazine, Personal Protection Equipment Kit (PPEK), handcuffs, extendable baton, portable radio, mobile phone, rechargeable torch and leatherman tool (not general issue but worn by many police).

Medical concerns

All responses the association received identify the same issues, which reveal chronic overuse injuries. The most common of these include musculoskeletal injuries to the lower back and hip, and sciatic nerve problems.

From probationers to 20-year veterans, officers experience these problems throughout NSW. The degree of pain varies from mild discomfort to extreme pain.

Bruising

From the firearm holster and spare magazine pouch, many officers experience bruising to both sides. They also suffer bruising to their backs from the large handcuff pouch. The magazine pouch and holster dig into the thigh when officers are seated. This is most commonly experienced by female and male officers of slight or slim builds. The bruising ranges from dark, golf ball-sized marks on both hips, to permanent brown marks all around the waistline. It comes about from such activities as foot pursuits, and simply getting in and out of police cars.

Muscular pain

Muscular pain centralized in the lower back (between the bottom of the ribs and the top of the legs) emerged as members’ most common complaint. The main cause of lower-back pain is strain on the muscles, or other soft structures (ligaments and tendons) connected to the backbones (vertebrae).

The uneven distribution of the weight of the belt places strain on the muscles, and thereby results in back pain.

Police officers’ level of lower-back pain appears to increase significantly when they conduct foot patrols or stand for extended periods, during events such as Mardi Gras, Operation Viking, demonstrations, crowd control and traffic duties.

Nerve damage/sciatica

Common among members were complaints of pins-and-needles sensations and numbness, which are symptoms of sciatica.

Sciatica comes about from irritation to the sciatic nerve (the main nerve in the leg). This causes pain to shoot down the leg, beyond the knee, and might sometimes even affect the foot. Numbness and weakening of the lower-leg muscles might also occur. These symptoms are often combined with lower-back pain.

Right-handed officers commonly complain of numbness to their right hips and upper right thighs – the area on which their firearms rest. Left-handed officers experience the same symptoms to their left hips and thighs. Some officers say they can stick pins into their numb upper thighs and feel nothing. For many, the sensation of numbness continues for hours after they remove their belts.

Officers experience these symptoms as they perform beats and stand for extended periods, but also when they are seated for long periods in police cars.

Other identified problems:

• Neck pain.
• Headaches/migraines.
• Scoliosis of the spine in women.
• Abdominal pain and discomfort.
• Groin pain in men.
• Buttock pain.
• Varicose veins.
• Swelling around the hip bone.
• Bleeding on hip bone owing to rubbing of the belt.
• Dry and flaky skin on hips which reddens and peels off.
• Constant itching in the hip area owing to abrasions caused by the constant rubbing of the belt.
• Rash on stomach along belt line.
• Welts on stomach along belt line.
• Soreness/pain in the kidney area.
• Pelvic pain.
• Insomnia (waking from neck pain and muscular aches in the back).

Vehicle travel

Police officers experience differing levels of discomfort when they travel in police cars, but all respondents believed it impossible to wear the belt and be comfortable while seated.

Sitting in and driving standard vehicles – particularly the Holden Rodeo – is the biggest concern for police officers, insofar as lower-back injury is concerned. In highway patrol vehicles, such as the SS Commodore and Ford XR8, seats are modular and designed to prevent body movement.

These wraparound-style seats feature padding on their sides which, as the name suggests, wrap around the sides of the officers’ bodies. This causes the firearm holster and handcuff pouch to dig into one’s body and make impossible the act of sitting straight on the seat. Most officers appear to wear the dual handcuff/medical kit pouch at the rear of their belts, as they cannot fit it anywhere else. It tends, in the car, to dig into the small of officers’ backs. So both the butt of Glock and the dual handcuff pouch restrict officers from sitting back into their seats.

The NSW Police Service has been aware of this problem. One officer of 12 years’ highway patrol service reported that a workplace assessment was done at his patrol and established that the combination of the curved seat and the position of the firearm had caused undue stress on the back.

When one positions himself or herself in an SS, for example, the sidearm not only pushes up, but also forward, and thereby creates an unnatural sitting position. If one attempts to sit up straight – square to the steering wheel – the butt of the firearm leans against the seat and pushes that particular hip forward.

The attachment of the Glock holster to the belt allows neither flexibility nor movement. The butt of the gun presses against the seat, pushes the holster forward, and pulls the belt tight against the back. Officers are therefore forced to sit diagonally – either to the left or right – with their backs twisted, causing great discomfort and pain, particularly after long shifts on the road.

Now, even with their accoutrement belts off, officers are sitting in odd positions in their own cars, owing to the posture they forcibly adopt in police cars.

One of many concerns to the association is the way in which an extendable baton might affect its wearer in a major vehicle accident. Most police wear the baton on their hips, fronts or backs. In light of the degree to which batons protrude upward, the potential for serious rib, back and groin injuries seems extremely high.

Bike travel

Officers who ride trail bikes indicate that the belt and its appointments move around the waist while riding. These officers find the belt extremely uncomfortable and impractical, especially compared to the Cordura, which some have worn as part of a trial.

Current holster (left) and curved holster, which loops through the belt.

Medical treatment

Five out of eight police officers in one particular highway patrol go to the same chiropractor for treatment – for the same problems. Police regularly see doctors, chiropractors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, massage therapists and acupuncturists for treatment to combat the pain and discomfort they suffer.

Many of these medical practitioners hold the collective view that the belt, the weight of the equipment, and shape of the police car seats have all contributed to officers’ muscular and sciatic pain.

One female officer of six years’ service has had chiropractic, osteopathic and massage therapy on a fortnightly basis for the past five years. Another female officer estimates that she has paid thousands of dollars for chiropractic and physiotherapy treatment for lower-back pain, which her doctor and specialists link directly to the equipment belt and its weight.

Cessation of pain with accoutrement belt removed

Many survey respondents who today suffer back pain had no such problems before they joined the police service. Many officers throughout NSW say their pain and discomfort either significantly reduces, or totally disappears, during leave, or on RDOs.

Officers also say the problems disappear entirely when they move to plainclothes positions, and vice versa. One male officer – who had worn the belt for 17 years and suffered lower-back pain – found that he was pain-free within weeks of commencing a plainclothes position.

Aggravation to previous HOD injuries

Many police find that wearing the belt aggravates their pre-existing HOD injuries to the lower back and neck. Some who responded to the survey are on restricted duties after aggravating their backs. Others are on sick leave.

Problems affecting female police officers

As small waists mean a shorter belt, slightly-built female officers find it extremely difficult to carry all of their appointments (particularly the extendable baton). They therefore have to position their appointments at the back of their belts, which become full to capacity and thereby place strain on the officers’ backs.

The female respondents who faced problems with their belts weighed between 45kg and 55kg.

Today, NSW police officers wear belts and equipment that come to about 6.8kg. The Australasian Centre for Policing Research (ACPR) which, in 1998, conducted a study into the issue of the belt, its appointments and their combined weight, made a pertinent observation:

If a person weighing 50 kilograms and another weighing 100 kilograms both carry the same 5 kilogram load, the weight carried by the lighter person represents an additional 10 per cent of body weight. In the case of the heavier person, the load only represents an additional 5 per cent body weight.

Attempts at remedies, such as changing belt and pants sizes, have made no difference. The problem rests entirely in the weight of the belt. Many female officers have developed scoliosis since they joined the service.

Why has nothing been done by the service to address these problems?

The police service has been aware of the problems of police-issue equipment belts. It need only look to the HOD forms police officers have submitted in recent years.
Case 1: A 24-year-old female police officer in the service for four years developed pain in the lower-back region and experienced numbness and a pins-and-needles sensation in the right thigh that she attributed to wearing the accoutrement belt. She sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with scoliosis. Last year, she was examined by a GIO doctor and diagnosed as having either lateral cutaneous nerve compression at the hip or lower-back injury, her work being deemed a substantial cause. The doctor’s prognosis: “...perfect if she doesn’t wear a belt. Whilst she continues to wear a belt, I believe her symptoms will continue.”
Case 2: A female police officer developed a blood blister on her right hip, the exact spot where her accoutrement belt has the Glock holster attached. The blood blister eventually burst and bled for several days, after which she attended a hospital where the blister was removed by a doctor and examined. Four sutures were required to close the wound. Further analysis of the material removed from the hip revealed a benign tumour. GIO accepted this as approved HOD.
Case 3: A 24-year-old female police officer went to hospital for an operation to treat varicose veins in the left leg. Her surgeon told her that he believed she had got them at such an early age due to the heavy accoutrement belt she was forced to wear. The cost of the operation was $2,400, which was paid by GIO as approved HOD.

The ACPR study into accoutrement belts was endorsed by all Australasian police agencies. Accordingly, representatives from all police jurisdictions, including NSW, took part in a working party. It concluded that:

The current configurations of duty belt and equipment tend, unintentionally, to disadvantage members of certain groups within the profession.

Two of the working party’s recommendations were that:
1. Agencies, local commanders and often practitioners themselves, should be permitted to make informed choices from ranges of approved equipment. The options on offer should particularly include opportunities to choose smaller, lighter equipment providing that officer safety and comfort are not compromised. As a minimum, dependent upon departmental and local requirements, practitioners should be permitted choices about whether to wear a leather, nylon or laminate belt.
2. Current practices of using multiple belt buckles and keepers should be abandoned.

It appears that, to date, the service has failed to implement any of these recommendations.

Some officers have attempted to remedy the problems of the belt by:

• Taking it off at least three to four times per shift.
• Constantly repositioning the belt throughout a shift.
• Wearing minimal essential equipment on the belt.
• Avoiding uniform duties so as not to have to wear the belt.
• Refusing to wear an extendable baton, owing to bruising and back pain.
• Wearing sponge material around the hip area to lessen the pain.
• No longer wearing the PPEK.
• No longer wearing keepers.
• Deliberately applying for positions that do not require them to wear the belt.

Suggestions

Unfortunately, no simple solutions exist. Some suggestions, however, emerged from the survey responses.

Cordura belt

Officers say they find Cordura (not a type of belt but rather a brand name of the material) much more comfortable to wear, owing to its lightness and flexibility. The Cordura belt can be adjusted to one’s exact size. Therefore, one can make minor adjustments quickly and easily. Many male respondents who had worn, or who wear, the Cordura belt, say their lower-back pain has ceased entirely.

Many female officers say they find the Cordura belt more comfortable but still experience sore lower backs, numbness in the legs and hip pain. Clearly, the problem of the weight of the appointments still remains.

A trial of the Cordura belts in Monaro local area command in early 2002 proved a success. Members who wore the belts – with appointments – as they drove their police cars spoke of significant improvements. Consequently, all officers in the southern end of Monaro LAC were issued with the belts, and achieved a significant reduction in sick leave.

Occupational health and safety issues surrounding the Cordura belt were later raised, and the decision taken to withdraw it from use in the LAC.

The Weapons Unit has not approved the Cordura belt; and instructors maintain that tests show it to be incapable of handling the weight of appointments. If officers attend weapons training with the Cordura, instructors send them away, as the belt is not police-issue.

The association recommends more trials and further testing of the Cordura belt.

Cargo Pants

Some respondents suggested the adoption of cargo-type pants, to allow for the carriage of lighter items, such as the PPEK and OC spray, in pockets.

Sam Browne belt

Also suggested was the full Sam Browne belt (shoulder strap), which attaches to the main belt. This allows the shoulder to take some of the weight of the appointments, and thereby reduce strain on the lower back.

Holsters

Officers suggested a range of holster options, including:
Shoulder holsters allow greater movement for running (as long as they fit tightly) and greater access to appointments. This creates more room around the waist for other appointments, such as the radio.
Tactical holster or “thigh rig” might alleviate the problem of lower-back pain, as it takes much weight off the back and waist and onto the upper leg. This, in conjunction with a Cordura belt and appointment holders, might warrant consideration.
Lower-slung gun holster sits lower down on the user’s leg. It is longer in the shank that the belt loops through, compared with the current issue. It sits about one to two inches lower on the leg and does not restrict access to the firearm.
Dual lightweight/resistant vests could carry most of the equipment, such as the PPEK, portable radio, extendable baton and OC spray. Queensland police exhibited a sleeveless jacket worn over the shirt. Made of an antron-style material, the jacket was designed to hold a notebook, portable radio, OC spray, extendable baton and other items, thereby taking the weight off the accoutrement belt.
Nylon equipment carriers would be lighter and a move away from leather carriers.
Vehicle adjustments could be made, particularly to seats. They could be fashioned differently, or feature inserts into which the equipment could fit.

Naturally, the police service would have to pay to introduce any of these proposals. But that cost would likely be less than that of officers’ HOD claims, from the chronic medical problems associated with wearing the current police-issue accoutrement belt.

Association action

Association representatives met the School of Operational Safety & Training Unit (SOSTU) acting commander last July. SOSTU is an education-and-training arm of the service, and comes directly from the Commissioner and coronial inquests.

Discussions focused on problems associated with wearing the current police-issue accoutrement belt.

SOSTU said that Purchase & Supply was then looking to find an equipment belt for the next generation. It has identified the ideal equipment belt.

It must be of a certain thickness so the holster cannot slide around the waist (as with the Cordura belt), and have packing inside to allow for greater comfort.

SOSTU showed the association a new female-version gun holster, which is available through Purchase & Supply. The new curvature holster:

• Is designed to curve to the body (hip) shape.
• Has at least 20mm to 30mm more clearance under the belt than does the old model, under which is a large structural brace.
• Angles the pistol differently from the body.
• Has none of the retention problems of the screwed-on holster, as it wraps around the belt.

Although this holster is called a female curvature holster, no reason exists for male officers not to wear it. About 30 of these holsters have so far been distributed, with another 90-odd on order. But the service has distributed these holsters without any trials to determine their level of comfort, or discomfort.

The association has suggested a sleeveless jacket or vest to carry the police radio (and possibly the PPEK), thereby transferring weight onto the shoulders. But concerns exist about potential injuries in car accidents, in light of airbag impact on a radio worn at the front of the chest.

The association also suggested officers wear the extendable baton in a secure trousers pocket along the thigh. SOSTU rejected this proposal on the basis that it would flap around in the trousers.

For officers who need it, the association looks to the option of taking some weight off their hips and waists. But SOSTU opposes this concept in favour of the policy of standardization. This means: issue all police with standard uniforms, equipment and belts, so they all look the same. But NSW police officers are not standard, and do not look the same. They range from 43kg to 120kg, and are expected to work with the same equipment and present the same uniform look – impossible.

The association recommends the creation of a package that includes the new curved female holster, the single handcuff pouch and the soft PPEK pouch. It (the package) should be trialled by association-selected officers, known to find the current accoutrement belt problematic.

Update: It appears that the NSW Police Service has now recognized that significant OHS problems are associated with the current accoutrement belt. A document produced by the NSW Police Uniform Services in July 2003 titled Appointment Belt Replacement Project Study strongly indicates the service’s intention of providing NSW police with an alternative method of carrying appointments in order to “eliminate or significantly reduce the Occupational Health and Safety problems arising from the carriage of appointments”. Some of the alternatives being looked at are a curved lightweight belt which absorbs minimal moisture, the possibility of clipping appointments onto the belt, vests for carrying some of the appointments, and braces that clip onto the main belt.