Badges of rank are usually worn on the
epaulettes. However, when in their formal uniform sergeants wear their
rank insignia on their upper sleeves. Other specialist forces, and those outside of the United Kingdom (including
British Overseas Territories such as
Bermuda and
Gibraltar, which are parts of the British sovereign territory in most of which internal competencies of governance are mostly delegated to local governments, and the
Crown Dependencies of the
Channel Islands and the
Isle of Man, which are not parts of the British sovereign territory) use the same general system, but often have fewer senior ranks.
Chief constable is the title of the head of each United Kingdom territorial police force except the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, which are headed by
commissioners. Ranks above
chief superintendent are usually non-operational management roles, and are often referred to as "chief officer" ranks, but the longer phrase "chief police officer" or similar in legislation is specifically a commissioner or chief constable, a "senior police officer" being their immediate deputy. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is often considered to be the highest police rank within the United Kingdom, although in reality every chief constable and the two commissioners are supreme over their own forces and are not answerable to any other officer. Epaulettes are normally black with white sewn on or silver metal insignia, although
high-visibility uniforms are often yellow with black insignia.
Epaulette insignia Uniform insignia The rank of an officer can be found in varying details of the uniform such as headgear, sleeve patches and tunic collar details. Insignia on hats and uniforms can vary between forces within the UK and the following tables below will not accurately represent all constabularies within the UK.
British Transport Police As a variation to the standard set, the deputy chief constable of the British Transport Police wears two rows of oak leaves on their hat.
Northern Ireland The
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) adopted the same rank system as elsewhere in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1970, but has a different version of the rank insignia, with the star from the PSNI badge replacing the crown. Unusually, the star is worn below the pip by chief superintendents and by the chief constable, who wears both symbols above his tipstaves. The PSNI has retained the RUC's distinctive inverted (point-up) sergeants' chevrons, worn on the lower sleeve in formal uniform. PSNI officers do not wear the custodian helmet and female officers wear a different hat from other forces. The PSNI rank structure and epaulette insignia is the same as the territorial police in Great Britain, except that the crown is replaced with the design from the PSNI badge and sergeants' chevrons are point up. In addition to the epaulettes being a green colour rather than a black, this is to match their green uniforms. Headgear rank marking is the same as for England and Wales.
Scotland Police Scotland headwear is slightly different for the following ranks: • Inspectors and chief inspectors wear a hat with a silver band instead of a black one. • Superintendents and chief superintendents wear a row of oak leaves within the silver band. • Assistant chief constables and deputy chief constables wear two rows of oak leaves.
Territorial police forces variations City of London Police City of London Police insignia are gold where that of other forces is silver. For example, rank insignia and collar numbers on epaulettes are gold, as are the bands and oak leaves on the caps of senior officers, and officers of or above the rank of commander wear gold-on-black gorget patches on the collars of their tunics. The City of London Police also previously had variations for some acting ranks such as sergeant and inspector: acting sergeants wore their chevrons above their divisional letters (or later "CP" for all officers, following the abolition of the force's divisions), whereas substantive sergeants wear them below their collar numbers. Acting inspectors were denoted by a crown in the place of their divisional letters, whilst keeping their collar number and chevrons. The City of London Police use a different colour scheme for their police headwear. Instead of the black and white
sillitoe tartan they use red and white. The assistant commissioner and commander wear a single row of oak leaves on their hats, and only the commissioner wears two rows.
Merseyside Police Inspectors and chief inspectors in
Merseyside Police wear silver instead of black lace on their hats, as did
Liverpool City Police before them.
Metropolitan Police The
Metropolitan Police uses different ranks above chief superintendent. The fabric used in the crowns is blue, whereas other police forces use red. Although they rank as deputy chief constables, deputy assistant commissioners wear two rows of oak leaves on their hats.
Isle of Man Constabulary Epaulette insignia The
Isle of Man police ranks follow the structure of other British police rank structures however it is notably missing the chief superintendent and assistant chief constable ranks within their own structure. The epaulettes for the constables and sergeants also have an addition of the Isle of Man Constabulary logo and motto above their collar numbers. Headgear rank marking is the same as for England and Wales.
Special constabularies insignia Special constabulary epaulettes frequently bear the letters
SC (with or without a crown above) to differentiate them from regular officers. Within the City of London Special Constabulary is the Honourable Artillery Company Specials; members of this unit wear HAC on the shoulders in addition to other insignia. Senior special constables wear the same markings on their hats as equivalent regular ranks. There is a large variation in the design of epaulettes used across Great Britain for specials. This has been recognised at national level and as part of the Special Constabulary National Strategy 2018–2023 the structure and insignia is under review with the intention to standardise. Other special constabularies use combinations of bars, half bars, pips, crowns, laurel wreaths, collar numbers, force crests and the SC identity (with or without a crown) to distinguish ranks (and/or role).
Miscellaneous police forces There are, in the United Kingdom, a number of miscellaneous constabularies. These are not operated, regulated or funded by the Home Office, although they are fully authorised (by Act of Parliament) establishments. In general, they provide the policing for ports, docks, tunnels, or other particular institutions. Although these forces tend to require high standards of training and accountability, which closely mirror those of the Home Office police forces, they are usually much smaller in terms of personnel, and therefore utilise fewer of the 'standard' ranks.
Public order roles and rank insignia Officers taking part in public order and public safety (POPS) events and incidents wear colour-coded rank slides to denote command and support roles. Bronze commanders can be of varying ranks and not just chief inspectors as shown below. Tactical advisers can also be of differing ranks, but are most commonly constables or sergeants. It is a requirement under the College of Policing Public Order Manual that all officers, regardless of rank, display an identifying number on their epaulettes. Therefore, ranks such as inspector have collar/warrant numbers displayed on their public order colour-coded epaulettes that they might not have as part of their normal uniform.
Police community support officers (PCSO) Police community support officers bear epaulettes with the words "Police community support officer" and their shoulder number, or, in the Metropolitan Police, a borough identification code and shoulder number.
South Yorkshire Police PCSO supervisors wear a bar above the words "Police community support officer supervisor" and the shoulder number. File:PCSOVariants.png|Variations of PCSO epaulettes varying between forces File:PCSOVariantsAltern.jpg|Examples of PCSO supervisor epaulettes File:CoLP Insignia - PCSO.png|Examples of PCSO epaulettes in the
City of London Police Police cadets The following table serves as an example of ranks within
volunteer police cadet schemes, which vary considerably. Cadets appointed "mayor's cadets" are given a special badge or epaulettes to wear. ==Historical police ranks==