PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. (KTHV) -- Pulaski County Sheriff's deputies have a new addition to their uniforms.
The department is allowed an annual uniform budget of $60,000. Now they've decided that $26,000 of that budget would be best used towards two new hats for each deputy; a black felt hat for winter and white straw hat for summer.
THV11 asked our viewers what they thought about the department spending $26,000 on new hats and a lot of them are wondering why focus on hats and not body cameras or other gear.
Sheriff Doc Holladay likes the professional look the cowboy hat brings to their uniforms.
“We were just looking to complete the uniform.”
He says the $26,000 spent on the hats was available and doesn't affect other funds in the budget.
“We don’t buy the hats and sacrifice something else, we took the money from the uniform allowance and so that money was available.”
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department used to wear two hats and the badge on one of the hats cost $150 alone. So now they're replacing them with these two hats which together cost less than $200.
Kevin Ford, training deputy for the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department, believes the hats help them stand out.
“It’s going back to the roots of the Sheriff’s department. The cowboy hat has always been the Sheriff’s department hat, where the campaign hat was state police.”
The uniform is part of the department’s identity.
“Less confusion when you see someone on the side of the road that has on a campaign hat, you automatically know it’s a state trooper, same thing with a cowboy hat.”
People in the community are already getting used to seeing the hats around town.
“If you’re not wearing it they'll hit you up and say, ‘well where's your hat?’ we love those hats.”
Some people thought it shouldn’t matter because it is their uniform budget.
Sheriff Holladay let us know that body cameras, bulletproof vests and other items each have their own budgets.