This is a random question to ask but I can't find an answer on the internet anywhere. I've noticed a lot of Police Officers on TV shows wear 'Straw Protectors' on the end of their radios.
Is there a reason for this or is it just to spice up their look whilst on duty?
Posted Aug 11, 2019, 3:18 PM UTC
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[deleted]
14 year old or....
They’re dumb. No matter the supposed reason for putting one on:
So it doesn’t poke me in the eye - how would it even stop that. Move the radio, the laws of physics demand it.
It enhances the signal - this is so dumb I question how you manage to tie your own shoelaces.
I use it so my car keys don’t come off, look, they physically can’t come off - first off, putting your car keys on your radio aerial is dumb as fuck. If you get in a roll around sod’s law it’s going in your eye. Second of all, if you physically got it on there, then it can also physically come off.
I use it to see which radio is mine - if you were the only one with one of these dumb things on the aerial then that might work.
Just leave your radio aerial alone.
Sounds like you need cheering up.
Maybe with this fun little aerial hat!
I was grumpy but I stand by my rant.
It's usually so you don't whack the top of the aerial part against something - the radios are intermittent at the best of times, quite often they're secondhand from a previous officer and a lot of scuffing or struggling with someone can damage them. Having the brightly coloured protector on the top just adds a bit of extra layerage to it.
That and all new probationers see that someone they like on their team has one so they all go out and buy one ahaha
Buy?
There’s usually a massive box in an office somewhere.
True... But they'll still buy more for the office if you don't tell them ;)
Buy? Don't you just ask the Street Pastors for one?
Ah I wouldn't know myself I'll be honest 😂
I think we just use ours to colour coordinate our fwends :3
Mine just kind of appeared
I usually pick them up when I find the things to put in place as they work great as something to pick at with the soft plastic. They also are quite nice to squash down the few milimeters that they flex down on the antenna.
As someone who's an avid user of fidget cubes and other similar items that's the only real reason I use them.
Functionally, practically and anything else there is no other purpose.
I've always wondered this ? Loads of people do it and I think look pretty silly doing so and I've never known why.
There have been a lot of replies on this post with a variety of answers. From what I’ve gathered, some people use it as a replacement for a “fidget device”, some people use it so they know who’s radio is who, some people use it to make it less possible for their keys to come off their radio, some people use it just as an aesthetic thing.
Then there are a couple of people going to the ends of the Earth saying that officer’s that put them on are dumb and stupid, even though they themselves have acknowledge that it doesn’t affect anything so it wouldn’t really matter if they do or not.
I think the main reason is just aesthetic purposes though. I hope this clears up your confusion and have an awesome day :)
It looks unprofessional. Balancing keys on your aerial is dumb.
Looks stupid.
It stops us being poked in the eye.