History
The NYPD Street Crimes Unit started in 1971. From the late 1970s through the early 1990s, crime in New York City was at record levels. Undercover officers were asked to go into areas such as subways in plain-clothes or dressed as a homeless person as a decoy. Many of these officers were black and had a fear that uniformed officers would mistake them for criminals in a use-of-force situation.
Many of these officers would dress and pretend to be drunk, homeless people or as decoy victims in order to catch muggers who were attacking those at-risk groups. The color of the day system was developed to prevent friendly fire incidents. In the beginning, specifically colored headbands were given to each undercover Street Crime Unit member.
Other officers would be briefed on that color to allow them to quickly recognize the undercover officers, while the general public would not notice anything unusual. This began the "Color of the Day" system. Later they also used wristbands in a similar manner. Today's officers often dress in the color.
Read more about this topic: Color Of The Day (police)
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