| This dissertation contains an overview of the five canons of rhetoric---invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery---and the ways in which the canons can be used to describe the rhetorical action of American police uniforms. Historical perspectives on the canons are taken from a number of sources ranging from the ancient to the very modern. Police uniforms are described via police department uniform guidelines, commonly available web materials, and trade publications. This examination includes a consideration of whether or not a police uniform, demonstrably a tool used in the application of violence in public space, is even capable of rhetorical action. Ultimately, the police uniform in duty deployment scenarios can be coercive, but not persuasive: it can influence human action through the threat of violence; however, the police uniform can be a tool for rhetoric in other circumstances. A 2015 uniform change by the Logan County, Arkansas sheriff's department indicates that police uniforms can be powerful tools for persuasively establishing or refashioning identity, thus indicating rhetorical capability. |
