THE SCOTTISH POLICE NATIONAL CAP BADGE
Until the late 1920s the police forces of Scotland wore the crests of the County, City or Burgh they policed or a Crown without an emblem. Some were very ornate and several of them bore no force title. It was not uncommon for police officers to be confused with other local authority employees.
The expense of having individual badges manufactured for smaller forces was also prohibitive. In 1928, the Chief Constables (Scotland) Association, as it was then, asked a Dumfries art master, a Mr. Cairns, to design a crest for the Scottish Police. His design showing the thistle and thistle leaves of Scotland with the motto “Semper Vigilo” which means “always watchful” surmounted by the St Edward’s crown.
Mr. Cairns’ design was accepted, and the Scottish Police forces were encouraged to adopt the design for badges, buttons etc.
The crest was embroidered for senior officers’ caps and the City of Glasgow police incorporated the design into their new helmet badge brought into use in 1932.
The embroidered badge is worn on the caps of Inspector to Chief Constable.
Only Ayrshire Constabulary, Lanarkshire Constabulary (until 1967) and Aberdeen City continued to wear their own design until 1975.
In 1974 a modern interpretation of the basic design was produced; the badge was fretted (the design was cut out) and bore the Tudor Crown. The new badge was introduced by Strathclyde Police and most of the other Scottish Police Forces in 1975.
Tayside Police continued to use the original 1928 design until the 1980’s. They later created their own impressive enamel cap badge, which included the words ‘Tayside Police’ below ‘Semper Vigilo’.
Items Provided By: The Lanarkshire Police Historical Society
Scottish Police Cap Badge – 1974 to present
- ‘N’ Division shoulder number
- ‘P’ Division Shoulder Number
- ‘Q’ Division Shoulder Number
On the 16th of May 1975 when, on Regionalisation, Strathclyde Police was created with Lanarkshire having three divisions;
‘N’ Division – Airdrie, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld & Kilsyth and surrounding villages
‘P’ Division – Motherwell, Wishaw, Shotts Bellshill and surrounding villages
‘Q’ Division – South Lanarkshire
Some boundary and divisional merges took place over the intervening years, in each of these, adding some small parts of Strathclyde, such as Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Moodiesburn etc. to the Lanarkshire divisions (they had been part of Lanarkshire prior to 1975)
In 1999 ‘P’ Division ceased to exist and became part of ‘N’ Division.
With effect from 1st April 2013 Strathclyde Police ceased to exist and became part of ‘Police Scotland’, the new national police force. It is now known as ‘Q’ Division.
