Tokyo, 08 October, /AJMEDIA/
Police in Nagasaki Prefecture have given a green light to their officers wearing sunglasses, choosing to focus on protecting their health and safety over appearance.
While officers in the southwestern Japan prefecture had not previously been banned from donning sunglasses, they had long refrained from wearing them for fear of appearing intimidating to locals, they said.
The official endorsement for the use of sunglasses came on Sept 19 for those driving patrol vehicles, among others, after officers complained they had problems driving due to brightness and said they wanted to protect their eyes from ultraviolet light.
“We’ve started this to prevent accidents during patrolling and to reduce damage to eye health. We hope the public will understand,” said Yoshiteru Oba of the Nagasaki Prefectural Police’s community police affairs division.
The Toyama Prefectural Police similarly allowed the use of sunglasses by its officers in the traffic section from July.