# What is this strange garment (in booking photo)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 26, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362 "2014-02-26T23:21:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/1 "2014-02-26T23:21:43Z")
The [associated story](http://www.courant.com/community/stamford/hc-stamford-school-masturbation-arrest-0227-20140226,0,4738809.story) is mildly amusing/disturbing, but I am curious about the strange green coat/wrap/vest being worn in the booking photo.
Is it a restraint garment? Bulletproof vest? Some kind of emergency coat or cover?
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/2 "2014-02-26T23:31:21Z")
Sure looks like a bullet-proof vest to me.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/3 "2014-02-26T23:40:39Z")
I think it’s a [smock for prisoners on suicide watch.](http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/safety_smocks_standard_wear_fo.html)
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### Author:  [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/4 "2014-02-27T00:00:01Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#):
>
> I think it’s a [smock for prisoners on suicide watch.](http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/safety_smocks_standard_wear_fo.html)
I didn’t even know those existed - I assumed they used paper gowns or something - much nicer (if not very fashionable or comfortable).
I would have guessed Bullet Proof Vest too - until I saw that link. I have no experience with either, and can’t tell the difference for sure from the photo - but it wouldn’t surprise me that someone might be given a bullet prof vest when arrested (although this seems a little on the overkill side for this crime).
Plus it’s cold there - so I’m guessing they would have just strapped a vest on on top of regular clothing - which this person doesn’t seem to have.
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### Author:  [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/5 "2014-02-27T01:15:39Z")
Here we go again! It’s a lead vest for dental x-rays?
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/6 "2014-02-27T01:59:47Z")
Safety smock works for me. I didn’t know they existed, either.
Such a strange, sad story. But then, schools tend to scrape the bottom of the barrel for substitutes these days and I’m not surprised that someone like this made it through the screening and was actually called in to work.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/7 "2014-02-27T03:37:35Z")
I see he was charged with “risk of injury to a minor.” What kind of massive weapon was he wielding?
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/8 "2014-02-27T04:37:16Z")
It says they are trying to identify students who may have seen him in action, in order to assess their need for counseling.
WTF? They’re going to suffer lifelong PTSD cause they glimpsed an old dude wanking off?
Is there any body of evidence or research about what really happens to kids who see an adult masturbating? These are High School kids, not kiddiegarters.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/9 "2014-02-27T05:39:17Z")
I bet they have a script to follow whenever a staff member is accused of inappropriate sexual conduct. It’s about covering their asses, not helping the students.
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### Author:  [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/10 "2014-02-27T06:12:41Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> Such a strange, sad story. But then, schools tend to scrape the bottom of the barrel for substitutes these days and I’m not surprised that someone like this made it through the screening and was actually called in to work.
I don’t think this is entirely fair. Playing the Devils Advocate for a moment here.
The story doesn’t give much details but it did mention that Luecke (the substitute) had no prior criminal convictions. Maybe this is a mental heath or medication issue, and not a case of _“someone like this made it through the screening”_.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/11 "2014-02-27T06:24:10Z")
I can say with 100% certainly that it is a suicide gown.
They are made of a very tough, stiff twill like fabric. They cannot be torn or fashioned into a noose.
Inmates who are on suicide watch, or in the special needs (mental health) section of a jail are issued them instead of the usual clothes inmates are issued.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/12 "2014-02-27T12:35:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> It says they are trying to identify students who may have seen him in action, in order to assess their need for counseling.
>
> WTF? They’re going to suffer lifelong PTSD cause they glimpsed an old dude wanking off?
I would think that their efforts would, if anything, increase the need for counseling. The kids probably didn’t realize what they were seeing… But now they do.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/13 "2014-02-27T14:10:07Z")
> [@Foggy](#):
>
> I don’t think this is entirely fair. Playing the Devils Advocate for a moment here.
>
> The story doesn’t give much details but it did mention that Luecke (the substitute) had no prior criminal convictions. Maybe this is a mental heath or medication issue, and not a case of _“someone like this made it through the screening”_.
Sorry, I have spent most of my life around the K-12 educational system, which fills in the blanks on stories like these. You won’t find anyone in education who doesn’t despair of the unending need for subs and the absolutely rotten quality of most of them - when they’re not stupid or too old, they’re creepy and unbalanced. Very few of them are nice, qualified, first-rate candidates just waiting for a permanent slot.
I guarantee you that someone in the district HR hesitated before adding this guy to the approved list, whether he had overt screening downchecks or not. They took him because no district in the US has a superfluity of such assistant classroom monitors, and crossed their fingers that he wouldn’t become the kind of casualty he did.
(Raise your hand if you know that most districts have a number - sometimes a large number - of teachers working on an “emergency credential”… meaning they are not qualified teachers and likely never will be. Some lack all but a dab of secondary education.)
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/14 "2014-02-27T14:30:18Z")
> [@Foggy](#):
>
> I don’t think this is entirely fair. Playing the Devils Advocate for a moment here.
>
> The story doesn’t give much details but it did mention that Luecke (the substitute) had no prior criminal convictions. Maybe this is a mental heath or medication issue, and not a case of _“someone like this made it through the screening”_.
Good point. A lot of “background checks” involve nothing more than a database search. If your name isn’t in the Criminal Records database and isn’t in any other databases of people who have been formally proceeded against in some significant way, you pass the background check.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/15 "2014-02-27T15:45:35Z")
From the linked news story:
> [@](#):
>
> According to police, Luecke was discovered about 7:33 a.m. by a school paraprofessional, who walked by an out cove in the hallway and saw a man on the ground.
What is an “out cove”? Is that like the opposite of an alcove?
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/16 "2014-02-27T16:42:25Z")
Never heard of those garments. Looks like something an alien race on _Star Trek_ would wear.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/17 "2014-02-27T16:55:25Z")
> [@Colophon](#):
>
> From the linked news story:
> What is an “out cove”? Is that like the opposite of an alcove?
As I read it, he was on a mezzanine or balcony overlooking the quad or central area below. An “outcove” would be a spot extended from the main run, I guess.
ETA: Looking at Google Earth, I don’t see any features that would qualify; they must be part of the internal floorplan.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/18 "2014-02-27T16:59:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The kids probably didn’t realize what they were seeing… But now they do.
High School kids unfamiliar with the motions of someone beating off? Seems far-fetched.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/19 "2014-02-27T17:04:29Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> High School kids unfamiliar with the motions of someone beating off? Seems far-fetched.
High school kids go down to some still-tender ages, and this is not an inner-city school. I think it’s worthwhile taking some time to see if it disturbed any of the students who saw it. If they laugh and make jackoff jokes, fine, but I can see it being a problem to a less… (aw, shit…) [del]hardened?[/del] [del]exposed?[/del] crude kid of 13 or 14.
There’s also a difference between “making beatoff motions” and an adult laying on the floor beating off.
I mean, dude be _whack_.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/20 "2014-02-27T18:51:49Z")
Word.
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