Why do some police officers say that they do not like to wear their wedding rings when they are on duty?

Question

Why do some police officers say that they do not like to wear their wedding rings when they are on duty?

Answer 1

Wearing any jewelry can cause problems. Rings can get snagged on suspects clothing, or on fence or other object when you are chasing someone. You could wind up getting injured, or have your hand temporarily immobilized during a confrontation.

Answer 2

You never know when a suspect is going to fight you.  If you land a couple of punches with a ring on your finger, you could easily wind up with a broken finger.

Of course, some just want to try and pick up the girl behind the counter at the 7 - 11.

Answer 3

It causes issues, but I'm sure every officer wears it while off duty, you never know if it might be your last time with them.

Answer 4

i think it could be either safety reason for ones self or for family safety reasons...they all soud plausible

Answer 5

Haven't you seen those shows/movies where the criminal/criminals friend/criminals family go after the cop, the D.A. or whoever arrested them? would you want criminals to know you have a family, so they could send a bunch of guys to your house and hurt your family?

Answer 6

A lot of people don't like to wear jewelry while working.  Police officers, factory workers, cashiers, any other group of workers you can think of.

I never wear any jewelry at work, I'm not a police officer, but here are my reasons.

Wearing a ring on the job could cause my finger to be trapped while working in a tight space.

Wearing any jewelry on the job might allow it to be stolen.

Wearing jewelry on the job might damage it.

The ring could be considered "a weapon used to injure a suspect" if the officer has to use force.

There are lots of reasons why someone might not wear a wedding ring on their job that have nothing to do with concealing the fact that they are married (although some people don't wear their wedding ring for that reason too!)

Answer 7

I received some very sound advice as a young soldier, do not wear rings or jewelery of any kind. This advice was given to me by a warrant officer who was missing his wedding finger, he lost jumping down off a truck when the ring caught on part of the tailgate it ripped his finger out.

Many years down the road now and I have been a police officer quite a while now, the rationale is the same and I pass on the same advice to my first year constables.

While many officers don't wear rings on their wedding finger, many carry their wedding ring on a chain around their neck under their shirt (far less likely to snag, and it helps keep wives happy)   ;-)

Answer 8

Safety. Climbing over fences is a guarantee snag.