WA police detectives have been banned from wearing denim and other casual clothing as part of a strict dress code issued by Commissioner Chris Dawson to smarten up their image.

Mr Dawson has also cancelled the planned introduction of a dark navy polo shirt for frontline officers, which was part of a new uniform approved by his predecessor.

“Obviously of most concern and priority is . . . how the police do their job,” he said.

“But wearing a uniform that accompanies that professional way of doing policing is very important. Having police represented in what I call a black T-shirt — that’s what it looks like — that is not the professional image that I, as Commissioner, want the police to be seen in public.

“If you dress like you’re looking for a fight, you’ll probably get in a fight,” Mr Dawson said.

By spelling out what is allowed and what is banned — with athletic wear, T-shirts, hoodies and ugg boots among items ruled out — Mr Dawson hopes to create a consistent and professional look to maintain public confidence.

Play Video Uniforms ordered by the previous commissioner could be headed to the scrap heap. The West Australian Video Uniforms ordered by the previous commissioner could be headed to the scrap heap.

He felt there had been a “relaxing” of dress standards among some plainclothes officers and he wanted to “recalibrate” that.

Mr Dawson does not want denim and T-shirts to be daily work attire but said officers could wear more comfortable clothing if they were doing search warrants and potentially jumping fences.

While police in Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory are among those that have adopted navy blue uniforms, Mr Dawson said he wanted to stay with the lighter blue shirt and had “loud feedback” from the police union, officers and the community who agreed with him.

He said he wanted WA’s uniformed officers to be readily distinguishable.

Police had bought 8000 of the polo shirts, costing about $265,000, when Mr Dawson suspended the rollout.