Uniform
The colour of the PSNI uniform is green. Pre-1970s RUC uniforms retained a dark green, which was often mistaken as black. A lighter shade of green was introduced following the Hunt reforms of the early 1970s, although Hunt recommended that British blue should be introduced. The Patten report, however, recommended the retention of the green uniform (Recommendation No. 154). The RUC officially described this as 'rifle green'. When the six new versions of the PSNI uniform were introduced, in March 2002, the term 'bottle green' was used for basically the same colour to convey a less militaristic theme.
The PSNI badge features the St. Patrick's saltire, and six symbols representing different and shared traditions:
- The Scales of Justice (representing equality and justice)
- The harp (a traditional Irish symbol but not the Brian Boru harp used as an official emblem in the Republic)
- A torch (representing enlightenment and a new beginning)
- An olive branch (a peace symbol from Ancient Greece)
- A shamrock (a traditional Irish symbol, used by St Patrick, patron saint of all Ireland, to explain the Christian Trinity)
- A crown (a traditional symbol of royalty but not the St Edward's Crown worn by or representing the British Sovereign)
The flag of the PSNI is the badge in the centre of a dark green field. Under the Police Emblems and Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 no other flag can be used by the PSNI and it is the only one permitted to be flown on any PSNI building, vehicle, aircraft or vessel.
Read more about this topic: Police Service Of Northern Ireland
Famous quotes containing the word uniform:
“I’ve always been impressed by the different paths babies take in their physical development on the way to walking. It’s rare to see a behavior that starts out with such wide natural variation, yet becomes so uniform after only a few months.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Thus for each blunt-faced ignorant one
The great grey rigid uniform combined
Safety with virtue of the sun.
Thus concepts linked like chainmail in the mind.”
—Thom Gunn (b. 1929)
“The Federal Constitution has stood the test of more than a hundred years in supplying the powers that have been needed to make the Central Government as strong as it ought to be, and with this movement toward uniform legislation and agreements between the States I do not see why the Constitution may not serve our people always.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)