Police are hot under the collar because they are not allowed to take off their jackets in the summer unless they get permission from top brass. They cannot don short sleeves until either regional commanders or assistant commissioners say so. The officers say they are covered in sweat after shifts in scorching heat and want their bosses to change the rule. Some complain they are trusted to decide when to use their guns but not when to take off their jackets. 'Surely this is a decision that would be more suitable for a local commander,' Senior Inspector Richard Bone of Yau Ma Tei CID said in a letter to police newspaper Off Beat. 'I find it bizarre that officers are given firearms and the responsibility of deciding to shoot and possibly kill another human being, yet we need to have an assistant commissioner to tell them when it's warm enough to take their jackets off.' Off Beat also carried a letter from 'a sweaty officer' saying officers on his shift were donning winter uniforms. But one senior police official said in another letter that the force had to have a standard uniform. 'I hope that the current review of the force working dress will result in a uniform that will not require en bloc changing,' he said. A police spokesman refused to comment on the matter.