A police badge is quite a fascinating object, as everybody can recognize it with ease, and it immediately gathers respect for the individual who wears it, but so many people don’t know the history behind this easily recognizable piece of uniform. The first ever police badge came about in London in the year of 1845, which also happens to be the same place where the very first police department started. Initially these badges were made of copper metal, to identify a law officer, and this is interestingly how the police officers got the name of “copper”, now “cop” that we so often use today! The badges that police officers wear today are made in a variety of different sizes and shapes, depending on the department they belong to, as well as the ranking of the officer within his or her department.

The badge that police officers wear in Pittsburgh, for instance, was created in the year of 1873, and consists of a crest replicated from the coat of arms of the first Earl of Chatham, William Pitt, after who the city of Pittsburgh is named. There is also a unique garter encrusted around the police badge, representing King George the third, who was incidentally the very last English ruler of some of the colonies in America. The shield that is evident within the badge is a replica of the age-old fighting shield of the Greek warriors, who fought on their feet, not on horses. The reason why this circular shaped shield appears within the Pittsburgh police badge is because it was used in the old British Isles.

The Anaheim police badge has gone through many changes and improvements over the years, and a collector’s badge was even specially created to represent the 125 th anniversary of the department. The initial badge was merely a traditional constable’s star, and today the badge worn by the Anaheim officers is a well-known oval shaped badge, which many departments wear across the United States. The badges usually have very slight differences, like ribbons embedded at the very top of them to specify the ranking of the officer, such as cadet, detention officer etc. The officers all take pride in their specially designed badges and each hopes to have a different ribbon with a higher ranking indicated on it.

Interestingly the first badge that the Chicago police officers wore was made from leather, in the early 1860’s. This leather badge was later replaced by the well-known Silver Star, which was even later imprinted with a specialized police number and seal of the city. The badges used by his department today are actually relatively similar to these earlier designs, although the actual star is somewhat smaller. Interestingly most of the police departments across America have very similar badges on the patrol vehicles that they drive, often a six pointed star with the specific department slogan on it, as well as the individual design of the representing police department, usually stuck on with a specialized sticker.