The navy blue uniform of Dallas police officers may now be accessorized with a staple of Western wear.
Officers are allowed to wear cowboy hats while on duty, the agency announced on its social media last week.
Some force members posed in the hats in front of a blue-orange sunset in a photograph posted on the police department’s Instagram.
“Fitted for duty and ready to ride. Officers across our department are wearing our new cowboy hats with pride—where style meets service!” the department captioned a later video post in which officers rode horses, conducted arrests and patrolled the city.
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The video began with some conspicuous product placement. An officer strolled through Cavender’s, a Texas retail store famous for its cowboy boots and hats.
A Dallas Police Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question Monday about whether there is a formal partnership with the Western wear brand.
The announcement around the hats also plugged the DPD’s recruitment team. The department faces the task of having at least 4,000 officers by 2029, the minimum amount mandated by Proposition U, a city charter amendment passed last year. As of June, 3,215 officers were employed, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Retention has been an issue for the force, although its recruiting class recently jumped from an average size of 10-20 officers up to about 50, according to The News.
In June, to boost the prospective officer pool, the Dallas City Council approved a change to the police’s hiring standards to allow applicants without a college degree.
Dallas police have also cast their gaze on Fort Worth, reportedly placing “We Are Hiring” billboards in that city. When Fort Worth police spotted the signs in March, they remixed Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping 2024 diss track “Not Like Us” to poke fun at their Dallas counterparts. The song did not ignite a rap battle, as some social media users had hoped.
Cowboy hats are also allowed on the Fort Worth force. That department has a heritage hat program in which academy graduates are gifted with the headwear upon graduation.
It’s unclear if Dallas police will adopt a similar practice.