On 2009-10-12, Bill Borland wrote:
I haven't looked closely at a copper recently, but it *used* to be
the case that an essential part of the uniform was a black-and-white
chequered band round the cuff, and merely removing *that* meant that
the officer was no longer "in uniform". But that was a long time ago
and things may have changed.

They certainly have - it used to be the case that a policeman was
never allowed to be out of uniform in public, whether on-duty or not.