Order of Merit of The Police Forces - Insignia

Insignia

Upon admission into the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, members are gifted various insignia of the organization, though these remain property of the Crown. The badges are similar in design to those of the Order of Military Merit, consisting of a dark blue enamelled cross pattée with four equal arms, at the centre of which is a disc bearing a maple leaf on a white enamel background, surrounded at its edge by a red enamel ring (annulus) bearing the words MERIT • MÉRITE • CANADA. Slight differences in appearance represent each grade: for Commanders, the emblem is gilt with a red enamel maple leaf in the gold central disk; for Officers, it is gilt with a gold maple leaf; and for Members, both the badge itself and the maple leaf are silver. The reverse bears only a serial number, and all are topped by a St. Edward's Crown, symbolizing that the order is headed by the sovereign. These insignia are worn with the order's ribbon, which is three bands of equal width, the outer two in blue and the centre one in golden. Male Commanders will carry their badge either at the neck or on a medal bar on the left chest, while Officers and Members display theirs only on a medal bar, suspended by, respectively, a bar of gold or silver decorated with a laurel motif. Women wear their emblems on a ribbon bow pinned at the left chest. The ribbon bar, worn for undress, is the same for each grade, save for a miniature blue cross pattée with a maple leaf, the colour of which matches that on the badge of the grade that the wearer was appointed to; someone who has been promoted within the order may wear on their ribbon bar the pins of all grades that they have occupied. These same miniatures also serves as a lapel pin for civilian wear.