Recently I was browsing through the tartans on the Scottish Tartan Authority when my eye caught the tartan of the Sheriff’s Department of Spotsylvania County. Wholly smokes, that’s my local police force!

So I contacted the Sheriff’s Department to find out the history on them having a tartan. Here is their reply:

We presently have a deputy employed by our department who plays the bagpipes. Because of this, we have made her part of our Honor Guard. We decided that since she would be playing at various ceremonies, a specific uniform should be designed (which of course includes the kilt). We gave her the go ahead to research the possibility of having a kilt designed for us. We settled on a company (actually in Scotland) called Geoffrey the Tailor. From a worn out uniform, she sent them samples of the material from the shirt and pants which explains the various browns. The company also requested a sheriff's office uniform patch, so that these colors could also be included in the pattern of the tartan. This explains the white, green, red, and yellow colors.

Once the tartan was finished, it was sent to us and registered. At this time, she is the only person in the department who wears the kilt. In the future (probably by late November or December) we will have a copy of the certificate listing the numbers of threads for each color and her picture in the kilt displayed in our lobby at the Sheriff's Office.

Cool!