Camouflage clothing in Trinidad and Tobago has been a controversial legal issue. Officially, camouflage clothing has been banned for civilians in Trinidad and Tobago and only permitted for the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. In recent times, Trinidad and Tobago officials have taken a more relaxed approach towards the matter though importation of any camouflage patterned items remains illegal.
Under the Defence Act, the law stated:
"A person, other than a member of the Defence Force, who without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on him)-(a) wears the uniform or any portion of the uniforms of a member of the Defence Force; or (b) wears any costume or any article of clothing or apparel so closely resembling the uniform or any portion thereof of a member of the Defence Force, as may cause such person to be mistaken for a member of the Defence Force, is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars and to imprisonment for eighteen months." [1]
This was supplemented by the Customs Act that banned the import of any camouflage patterned items. [2] The law was brought in by Legal Notice 33 created by proclamation in 1984 by the President of Trinidad and Tobago Sir Ellis Clarke, which stated that camouflage patterned items could only be imported for the Defence Force. [3] The law has been criticised by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service as the law was intended to stop impersonation of the Defence Force soldiers but led to occasions where toys with camouflage accessories were being confiscated as illegal. [2] This results in a number of occasions at military-themed festivals where the police opted not to enforce the law. [4] Though conversely, they would confiscate any camouflage discovered being sold in shops. [5]
Customs confiscate any camouflage pattern materials that are detected. [6] In 2020, the law was challenged by a man arrested for importing camouflage baby clothes on the grounds that the Legal Notice violated the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago due to not going through Parliament. [3] In 2021, the High Court ruled that the law against camouflage importation was constitutional. [7]
In 2024, ahead of Carnival, the Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds clarified the law by stating that the law only prohibited camouflage clothing that closely resembled Defence Force uniforms that could mislead people to believe the wearer was a member of the Defence Force. He stated that camouflage accessories and brightly coloured camouflage that was not similar to Defence Force camouflage would not be illegal under the act. [8]
A uniform is a variety of costume worn by members of an organization while usually participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools, and by inmates in prisons. In some countries, some other officials also wear uniforms in their duties; such is the case of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service or the French prefects. For some organizations, such as police, it may be illegal for non-members to wear the uniform.
A military uniform is a standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations.
A combat uniform, also called field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purposes, as opposed to dress uniforms worn in functions and parades. It generally consists of a jacket, trousers and shirt or T-shirt, all cut to be looser and more comfortable than more formal uniforms. Design may depend on regiment or service branch, e.g. army, navy, air force, marines, etc. In the army branches, fabrics tend to come in camouflage, disruptive pattern or else green, brown or khaki monochrome, in order to approximate the background and make the soldier less visible in nature. In Western dress codes, field uniform is considered equivalent to civilian casual wear. As such, field uniform is considered less formal than service dress uniform, generally aimed at office or staff use, as well as mess dress uniform, and full dress uniform.
Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM) is the commonly used name of a camouflage pattern used by the British Armed Forces as well as many other armed forces worldwide, particularly in former British colonies.
Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform (DPCU), also nicknamed Auscam, jelly bean camo, or hearts and bunnies is a five-colour military camouflage pattern used by the Australian Defence Force. Replacing the jungle greens used from WWII, it was developed and tested during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The uniform was trialled in 1987, with it being slowly introduced in late 1989, with the last production and discontinuation of the jungle greens being in late 1990. Jungle greens were last issued in late 1991 for Australian Regular Army, and late 1994 for Australian Army Reserve.
Tiger stripe is the name of a group of camouflage patterns developed for close-range use in dense jungle during jungle warfare by the South Vietnamese Armed Forces and adopted in late 1962 to early 1963 by US Special Forces during the Vietnam War. During and after the Vietnam War, the pattern was adopted by several other Asian countries. It derives its name from its resemblance to a tiger's stripes and were simply called "tigers." It features narrow stripes that look like brush-strokes of green and brown, and broader brush-strokes of black printed over a lighter shade of olive or khaki. The brush-strokes interlock rather than overlap, as in French Lizard pattern (TAP47) from which it apparently derives.
The uniforms of the Canadian Armed Forces are the official dress worn by members of Canada's military while on duty.
MultiCam is a camouflage pattern designed for use in a wide range of environments and conditions which was specifically developed and is produced by American company Crye Precision. As a result of the pattern's tried-and-true effectiveness across disparate environments and regions, it has found extensive adoption globally. Variants of it, some unlicensed, are in use with militaries worldwide, particularly with special forces/special operations forces units.
The uniforms of the British Army currently exist in twelve categories ranging from ceremonial uniforms to combat dress. Uniforms in the British Army are specific to the regiment to which a soldier belongs. Full dress presents the most differentiation between units, and there are fewer regimental distinctions between ceremonial dress, service dress, barrack dress and combat dress, though a level of regimental distinction runs throughout.
The Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) is a U.S. camouflage combat uniform formerly worn by members of the United States Air Force, United States Space Force, and some civilian employees of the U.S. Department of the Air Force until April 2021. It replaced the Battle Dress Uniform and Desert Camouflage Uniform on 1 November 2011 after a four-year phase-in period.
The United States Marine Corps (USMC) prescribes several types of military uniform to distinguish its service members from other armed services, depending on the situation.
Soldier 2000 is a military camouflage pattern developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and is in use with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). It is designed to be effective in all terrains and seasons encountered across South Africa.
The M05, sometimes known as the M05 Terrain Pattern, is a family of military camouflage patterns used by the Finnish Defence Forces on uniforms and other equipment. The pattern is licensed by the Finnish Defence Forces and became available to the public on 26 September 2016.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service or TTPS is the law enforcement agency of Trinidad and Tobago. It has been in operation for over 200 years.
Canadian Disruptive Pattern is the computer-generated digital camouflage pattern developed for use by the Canadian Armed Forces. Four operational variations of CADPAT have been used by the Canadian Armed Forces: a temperate woodland pattern, an arid regions pattern, a winter operations pattern, and a multi-terrain pattern.
The New Zealand Army uniform has changed over the years from that of the original Armed Constabulary of the 1800s to the modern Army Combat Uniform style in use by the majority of world armies today. While British Army influence has always been strong, distinctive New Zealand features have gradually developed. From 2013 the New Zealand Army uniform underwent a complete redesign with a new and distinctive camouflage pattern unique to the NZDF.
Women in Trinidad and Tobago are women who were born in, who live in, or are from Trinidad and Tobago. Depending from which island the women came, they may also be called Trinidadian women or Tobagonian women respectively. Women in Trinidad and Tobago excel in various industries and occupations, including micro-enterprise owners, "lawyers, judges, politicians, civil servants, journalists, and calypsonians." Women still dominate the fields of "domestic service, sales, and some light manufacturing."
Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP), originally codenamed Scorpion W2, is a military camouflage pattern adopted in 2015 by the United States Army for use as the U.S. Army's main camouflage pattern on the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). This pattern officially replaced the U.S. Army's previous Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) as the official combat uniform pattern for most U.S. soldiers at the end of September 2019. The pattern also superseded the closely related MultiCam, a pattern previously used for troops deploying to Afghanistan.
The Australian Multicam Camouflage Uniform (AMCU) is the combat uniform camouflage pattern for the Australian Defence Force, general issued from 2014 onwards. The AMCU is replacing the previously used Disruptive Pattern Camouflage Uniform (DPCU) and Australian Multicam Pattern - Operational Combat Uniform (AMP-OCU) camouflage patterns.
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