Lincoln County deputies have a new look under a new sheriff.

Last Monday, deputies began wearing new uniforms that includespruce green pants and a silver tan, or khaki, shirt. The uniformsrepresent a departure from earlier French blue outfits that hadroyal blue accents.

“We want everybody to get familiar with them and know that whenthey see them, that is a deputy,” said Sheriff Wiley Calcote.

Calcote and Investigator Lance Falvey said the new uniforms willhelp people distinguish sheriff’s deputies from other lawenforcement agencies in the county. Police wear dark blue uniformswhile highway patrol troopers’ uniforms have blue and graycolors.

“To me, it looks more like a sheriff’s department,” Falvey said.”It’s a traditional sheriff’s department uniform.”

The sheriff, investigators and deputies also received newbadges. The new badges include a five-point star surrounded by agold ring. The old badges had the star with a wreath and eaglecrest.

“This is a more readily identifiable sheriff’s badge,” Falveysaid.

Calcote mentioned that the new uniforms are also an effort tofollow up on campaign comments.

“Along the campaign trail, people told me they’d like to see thedeputies distinguished from the others,” Calcote said.

All uniformed personnel will be in new outfits. Calcote said thedepartment’s 12 deputies received their uniforms from the county,and the department’s 18 reserve deputies will purchase theirown.

“We’ve also got the jail personnel, but we haven’t purchasedtheirs yet,” Calcote said.

The sheriff said clothing for jail personnel, who still wear theprevious uniforms, should be available in about three weeks. Jaileruniforms will include a Polo style shirt with khaki pants.

Deputies have received a tie, two short- and two long-sleevedshirts, and three pairs of pants.

Falvey and Calcote said the new uniform costs approximately $80per set. The old uniforms were about $150 a set.

“We were able to outfit the deputies at a substantial savingsand put them in a new comfortable and durable uniform,” Falveysaid.

In the past, County Administrator David Fields said, several newuniform sets were purchased each year to replace ones that had wornout.

Fields said the new uniforms are less expensive because they aremore of a stock line, whereas the previous ones were more customdesigned. He said Calcote was able to rework his budget to pay forthe short-term expense of outfitting all sheriff’s departmentpersonnel.

“Over time, it will work out less,” Fields said.

Deputies expressed their approval of the new uniforms.

Deputy David Johnson said the uniforms are nice and lookprofessional.

Deputy Sudie Palomarez said she has heard several positivecomments from the public while she covered school crossings andhandled other matters. She also mentioned the uniform’s distinctiveappearance.

“We definitely have our own look,” Palomarez said.