The AFP shoulder patch
Since 19 October 2006, a single generic shoulder patch is worn on all AFP Uniforms.
This generic AFP Shoulder Patch consists of the following components on a black background with subdued white piping:
- The coloured Australian Federal Police Shoulder Patch as the primary symbol containing the following:
- The Crown symbolises Royal Authority.
- The wreath symbolises the courage needed for police duty and the courage shown by officers killed in the course of duty.
- The Coat of Arms represents the Australian Government and people.
- The seven pointed Commonwealth Star represents the States and Territories, and that police are prepared to travel in whatever direction necessary to conduct their duty.
Note: The Commonwealth Star was created in 1901 and had six points representing the States (formerly colonies), the seventh star being added in 1908 to represent the Commonwealth Territories and to match the crest of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the first version of which was created in 1908. The Commonwealth Star is sometimes referred to as the Federation Star.
For most of the 20th Century Australian police services followed the British Police practice of uniformed officers displaying few tangible signs of police insignia, apart from the hat badge and maybe chevrons or shoulder boards with insignia for senior officers.
In the 1970’s a gradual move occurred in which each Australian jurisdiction introduced some form of shoulder ‘patch’ which identified the service the officer was from. This move was a copy of European and American practices. Some of the early styles only contained words, such as the patch worn by Commonwealth Police (right).
By the late 1970’s each state and territory police had developed a shoulder patch that included either the service’s logo, crest or jurisdiction’s Coat of Arms (eg the ACT Police patch, left). Some police services would later change their patches for another design.
As an interesting side note, the first proposal of an AFP shoulder patch was halted just prior to issuing because the Minister at the time thought that the proposal to include wattle on the patch made officers look like ‘Texas Rangers’.
The AFP had two styles of patches in the early 1980’s, the general policing patch and the ‘Police Protective Services’ patch which was worn by members undertaking protective duties. This patch was only issued to Protective Service Police at Government House in Canberra. It was designed to be issued in conjunction with the floral design patch, to identify General Duties Police from Protective Service Police, but was rejected by the joint AFP Associations. It was only in service for a very short time. This patch was phased out when the protective services component was separated to form the Australian Protective Services.
Pre-October 2006 AFP shoulder patch
The pre October 2006 AFP Shoulder Patch has a line across the middle with the words ‘Australian Federal Police’ below the line. Above the line is the Australian Coat of Arms (minus the wattle), which was designed and enacted in 1912.
The Coat of Arms consists of a shield composed of 'quarters' representing the six States of the Commonwealth enclosed by an ermine border. The quarters provide a place for each of the States on the shield. Devices representing the six States are arranged in two rows on the shield. From left to right in the top row are the devices of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland (Quarters 1, 2 and 3) and in the bottom row are the devices of South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania (Quarters 4, 5 and 6). The ermine border signifies the federation of the States into the Commonwealth.
The Crest of the Arms is a seven-pointed gold star symbolic of national unity on a gold and blue wreath, which is a traditional element represented as a twisted ribbon or Torse of the two alternate colours gold and blue. A star of six points was originally chosen to represent the six States but a seventh point was added to represent the territories of the Commonwealth before the design was finalised. This seven-pointed star is also used on the Australian National Flag and is termed the Commonwealth Star.
The supporters, the kangaroo and the emu, are two typical Australian creatures which were also included in the 1908 Arms. Both are indigenous to Australia and are regarded as suitable for heraldry, design and reproduction uses. Although the Royal Warrant did not indicate a species of kangaroo, that depicted on the original painting is assumed to be the Red Kangaroo (Megaleia rufa) which is the widest distributed species on the continent. The emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) and the kangaroo, as typical Australian fauna, further identify the Arms as being exclusively Australian.
(Source: web site www.pm.gov.au)
Variations
There are only two officially approved operational variations of the pre-October 2006 AFP shoulder patch:
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‘Subdued’ patch. This dull coloured patch is worn by tactical teams such as the Special Operations Team or Bomb Response
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Chaplain’s patch
