The Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is a decoration for

police officers A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. First instituted in 1951, the medal is presented for twenty aggregate years of service in the police services of the United Kingdom.

Criteria

The Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted under Royal Warrant by King George VI in June 1951 and is awarded as a mark of the Sovereign's appreciation of long and meritorious service rendered by members of the Police Forces of the United Kingdom. For an officer to become eligible for this award the Chief Constable must make a recommendation to the Home Secretary, and in doing so, is required to certify the following: #That an officer has been a serving member of a Police Force. #That the officer has served efficiently for the qualifying period. #That the officer's character has been very good.

Commonwealth

In 1956 eligibility was extended to police officers serving in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

. In 1976 Australia replaced the award with the National Medal and, in 2010, with the

National Police Service Medal The National Police Service Medal (NPSM) is a special service award within the Australian honours system to provide "recognition for the unique contribution and significant commitment of those persons who have given ethical and diligent service a ...

Length of service

The initial award criterion was 22 years' service as a full-time regular

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

within any Constabulary. Later, Long Service and Good Conduct Medals were introduced for the

Fire Brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

and

Ambulance Service Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

, both awarded for 20 years’ service. A national campaign to award the police medal after 20 years, and so bring it in line with the other emergency services, was started by

Warwickshire Police Warwickshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Warwickshire in England. It is the second smallest territorial police force in England and Wales after the City of London Police, with only 823 (full-time equivalents) ...

Officer Kenneth Fowler, supported by Chief Officers, the Police Federations and

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. On 19 January 2010,

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

amended the medal's royal warrant to make the qualifying period of service 20 years. The Royal Warrant was updated in March 2022 by HM Queen Elizabeth II to award a bar to the medal ribbon for every additional ten years of service. This change reflected the longer service of Police Officers following pension changes and sought to recognise their extended service.https://www.polfed.org/news/latest-news/2023/additional-service-bar-for-police-long-service-and-good-conduct-medal/

Appearance

The medal is circular, in diameter and initially issued in

cupro-nickel Cupronickel or copper-nickel (CuNi) is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. The copper content typically varies from 60 to 90 percent. (Monel is a nickel-copper alloy that contains a minimu ...

, with modern strikings being

rhodium Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isoto ...

plated. It has the following design: * The obverse bears the effigy of the reigning

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

* The reverse has the figure of

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

with scales in her left hand and a wreath in her right surrounded by the inscription 'FOR EXEMPLARY POLICE SERVICE'. * The suspender is straight and found in both swivelling and non-swivelling formats. * It is engraved on the rim in impressed

capital letter Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

s, with the recipients rank and name. As of circa 2006 officers from the 4 Welsh Constabulary’s have the option to have their rank engraved in Welsh. * It hangs from a dark blue ribbon, wide, with two thin white stripes towards each edge. * Bars for additional service of 30 and 40 years, were authorised on the 11th March 2022. However officers had to be serving on this date, the award is not retrospective to officers who retired prior to this date.

Obverse variations

The medal has been awarded with one of three obverse designs: File:NGSM 1915 GVI obv 1949-52.jpg, George VI (1951–53) File:Naval General Service Medal 1915 (Obverse) First Elizabeth version.jpg, Elizabeth II 'BR OMN' (1953 to mid-1950s) File:NGSM 1915 EBII obv.jpg, Elizabeth II 'DEI GRATIA' (From mid-1950s)

References