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That's what I figured-- it's fairly obvious: "why would unrecognizable cops have a symbol on their weapon?" "Gee, maybe so other cops know they're cops?". Why

That's what I figured-- it's fairly obvious: "why would unrecognizable cops have a symbol on their weapon?" "Gee, maybe so other cops know they're cops?". Why this is news or on hackernews is beyond me though.

jjulius 6y ago
>That's what I figured-- it's fairly obvious: "why would unrecognizable cops have a symbol on their weapon?" "Gee, maybe so other cops know they're cops?". What's obvious to some is not always obvious to others. >Why this is news or on hackernews is beyond me though. TheDrive isn't so much a news website as it is a magazine. This article is more informative than anything, and going back to my previous remark, it educates those who might not've thought about this sort of thing before. As to why it's on HN, same reason; not everybody would assume as much.
- varjag 6y ago
  Come on, the whole article is mostly rephrasing of the same statement interspersed with tweetquotes. Written to meet word count quota.
  - jjulius 6y ago
    >Come on... ... what? I haven't commented on the quality of the article at all. Perhaps your confusion lies in my saying, "This article is more informative than anything...", but that was just me saying that the article was written as an informative piece, not a piece of news, because TheDrive is a magazine and not necessarily a news outlet.
- andyjohnson0 6y ago
  Fwiw it wasn't obvious to me until I read the article. I know nothing at all about guns. So I learned something.
jjoonathan 6y ago
I know about digital IFF but I had never given much thought to "old school analog" IFF. I sort of assumed that uniforms were the primary mechanism, but obviously they can be spoofed, and with "tacticool" fashion as prevalent as it is they can be trivially spoofed. I never gave it enough thought to think up or chase down the actual solution. "They hand out gun stickers" is a delightfully simple and practical answer. This is the best bit of trivia I've learned all day.
- hsbauauvhabzb 6y ago
  Not really. If you can spoof a uniform you can spoof a sticker. And given it’s not a reliable negative identifier, it’s probably not a huge help anyway.
  - jjoonathan 6y ago
    You can't spoof a sticker you don't know about, because they handed it out that day. It's a shared secret.
    - hsbauauvhabzb 6y ago
      Cool, fta just said some had stickers and some didn’t. Now you’re just adding confusion into the mix.
- Animats 6y ago
  In the 1980s, the NYPD used elastic headbands. There was a color or pattern for the day, and plainclothes cops were issued the proper headband at the station. I wonder what they're using now, headbands being so over.
  - jsheard 6y ago
    They use armbands now: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nypd-arm-bands/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nypd-arm-bands/
zaphirplane 6y ago
It could be to keep track of the official weapon, which would imply they have another one with questionable purpose
mikestew 6y ago
The only thing "obvious" is that your hypothesis coincidentally lined up with the actual reason...this time.
dafoex 6y ago
I guessed this before clicking, but its still interesting to know it exists. My next question is are they like invasion stripes on an aeroplane - i.e. they are changed before an operation so the enemy can't copy them - or are they coded depending on factors like rank or specific training, like the shapes on UK police cars?

jjulius 6y ago

>That's what I figured-- it's fairly obvious: "why would unrecognizable cops have a symbol on their weapon?" "Gee, maybe so other cops know they're cops?". What's obvious to some is not always obvious to others. >Why this is news or on hackernews is beyond me though. TheDrive isn't so much a news website as it is a magazine. This article is more informative than anything, and going back to my previous remark, it educates those who might not've thought about this sort of thing before. As to why it's on HN, same reason; not everybody would assume as much.

varjag 6y ago
Come on, the whole article is mostly rephrasing of the same statement interspersed with tweetquotes. Written to meet word count quota.
- jjulius 6y ago
  >Come on... ... what? I haven't commented on the quality of the article at all. Perhaps your confusion lies in my saying, "This article is more informative than anything...", but that was just me saying that the article was written as an informative piece, not a piece of news, because TheDrive is a magazine and not necessarily a news outlet.
andyjohnson0 6y ago
Fwiw it wasn't obvious to me until I read the article. I know nothing at all about guns. So I learned something.

jjoonathan 6y ago

I know about digital IFF but I had never given much thought to "old school analog" IFF. I sort of assumed that uniforms were the primary mechanism, but obviously they can be spoofed, and with "tacticool" fashion as prevalent as it is they can be trivially spoofed. I never gave it enough thought to think up or chase down the actual solution. "They hand out gun stickers" is a delightfully simple and practical answer. This is the best bit of trivia I've learned all day.

hsbauauvhabzb 6y ago
Not really. If you can spoof a uniform you can spoof a sticker. And given it’s not a reliable negative identifier, it’s probably not a huge help anyway.
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  You can't spoof a sticker you don't know about, because they handed it out that day. It's a shared secret.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 6y ago
    Cool, fta just said some had stickers and some didn’t. Now you’re just adding confusion into the mix.
Animats 6y ago
In the 1980s, the NYPD used elastic headbands. There was a color or pattern for the day, and plainclothes cops were issued the proper headband at the station. I wonder what they're using now, headbands being so over.
- jsheard 6y ago
  They use armbands now: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nypd-arm-bands/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nypd-arm-bands/

zaphirplane 6y ago

It could be to keep track of the official weapon, which would imply they have another one with questionable purpose

mikestew 6y ago

The only thing "obvious" is that your hypothesis coincidentally lined up with the actual reason...this time.

dafoex 6y ago

I guessed this before clicking, but its still interesting to know it exists. My next question is are they like invasion stripes on an aeroplane - i.e. they are changed before an operation so the enemy can't copy them - or are they coded depending on factors like rank or specific training, like the shapes on UK police cars?