“Justitia Omnibus”: The Metropolitan Police Department Shoulder Patch
In every police uniform, the most legible symbols are often the smallest: a badge and a shoulder patch.
For the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the badge’s lineage extends back more than 160 years, reflecting remarkable continuity in design and meaning since the department’s early years. By contrast, the story of the department shoulder patch unfolds in a more fragmented history—a story pieced together from photographs, event coverage, collectors’ archives, and institutional memory.
Here is that story:
Former Chief of Police Maurice T. Turner [July 1981- July 1989] at some point in his tenure authorized the release of a souvenir brochure entitled “METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT – SHOULDER PATCH”. In that brochure it states that the Metropolitan Police Department designed the shoulder insignia in 1970.
It would be interesting to know what Chief Turner based that information on because the current shoulder patch may have been designed in 1970, however it wasn’t visible in photographs until 1972.
Looking back at our history through photographs and news stories we can begin to fill in the blank spaces about the department shoulder patch.
In the nineteenth century, U.S. police uniforms emphasized standardized coats, hats, and visible badges far more than fabric insignia.
MPD imagery from the late 1800s shows evolving headgear and coat styles, with insignia often limited to cap plates and badge chains, not shoulder patches.
That pattern mirrors broader U.S. practice, where shoulder patches generally arrived in the early twentieth century as departments formalize rank and unit identity along lines influenced by military uniform traditions.
MPD’s own institutional timeline—from its founding as a modern force in 1861 during the Civil War era—helps explain why early visual identity leaned on badges and cap devices first; patches came later as uniforms modernized.
Officers on bicycles, known as wheelmen, began to differentiate themselves from other officers with distinctive patches, along with some harbor officers. In 1912, the Metropolitan Police Department transitioned from horses to motorcycles as their primary mode of transportation with sidecars being introduced in 1932. With the adoption of motorcycles, the distinguished winged wheel shoulder patch became associated and widely recognized with motor officers.
Other specialized units began adding patches, traffic division, motorcycle stunt team, shooting team, marksmanship and first-aid training also found their way onto the uniform in various ways. This pattern—special recognition worn selectively—fit the operational reality of the time: specialized patches were typically not part of routine patrol dress, underscoring a boundary between ceremonial/competition roles and everyday policing. In the 1930s, “shooting ribbons” appeared above coat cuffs to denote proficiency, while American Red Cross patches marked first-aid capability; a red star patch, whose meaning remains uncertain, appears in photos from the era.
As the twentieth century opened, specialized MPD units began experimenting with distinctive fabric insignia. Bicycle officers (“wheelmen”) and mounted officers or Troopers wore unit-unique patches to differentiate their roles, foreshadowing a broader embrace of cloth identity markers. A decisive change came with the department’s transition from horses to motorcycles in 1912 (sidecars in 19), which entwined motors culture with the winged wheel emblem—a visual shorthand for speed, precision, and motion widely recognized across police motorcycle communities. The winged wheel’s symbolism itself reflects early twentieth‑century military and motor traditions, interpreted by motor units as representing swiftness (wings), actionable precision (arrow), and the machine’s motion (wheel).
During the 1930s, patches began appearing above the cuffs of officers’ blouses to denote shooting proficiency and were often referred to as shooting ribbons. Additionally, American Red Cross patches appeared on the sleeve to indicate medical training in first aid, as well as a red star patch whose symbolism remains unidentified. Furthermore, specialized disciplines such as departmental shooting teams and motorcycle demonstration teams began to be represented by shoulder patches. However, these shoulder patches were not worn during patrol duties.
The earliest known departmental patch appeared in the 1940’s which was the M.P.D.C. letters against a blue shield background. This was not a shoulder patch but rather a patch worn on departmental cardigan sweaters.
More specialized units began adding patches to their uniform.
The MPD uniform began to evolve and the BDU uniform was adopted for wear. This uniform had grown out of the need for a CDU uniform and during this time, a new CDU patch was implemented for the right sleeve of the BDU uniform when on a CDU detail.
An unofficial CDU patch which made its way through the CDU units of the 1970’s
More and more novelty patches began to make appearances. Perhaps, no other novelty patch is more famous than the 1990’s Death City patch, which was fashioned in the likeness of the official patch. These patches were never officially authorized and those who did dare to modify their outfits with them were either warned not to continue or received discipline.
A shoulder patch design resembling the current official departmental patch first appeared in 1949 for Harry S. Truman and Alben W. Barley’s inauguration. An Evening Star article dated January 14, 1949, noted that one hundred of these special patches were issued to the motormen of the Metropolitan Police Department for use during the event. These patches continued to be worn afterward, and they undoubtedly influenced the current patch design.
In the 1960s, motormen started wearing a second style of shoulder patch. Legend says that the first was the ‘crooked cane’ patch with a halo above Columbia. A second prototype with red and yellow highlights was made but never used. Finally, a cleaner version was created and used.
The historical riddle is, when did these patches first appear?
Archival photographs show a patch on escort motormen’s left sleeves from the 1950’s and at President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration a left sleeve patch is visible. 1963 photos of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s escorts make the new shoulder patch more identifiable on MPD motor officers.
The specific details of this patch, whether it is the 1949 Motorman Inaugural patch or a new style, are not conclusively identified.
A 1963 photograph of President Lyndon Johnson with his Park Police and Metropolitan Police Department motor escort is the first time the new shoulder patch clearly visible.
1963 photograph of President Lyndon Johnson with his Park Police and Metropolitan Police Department motor escort.
An undated photo shows Vice President Hubert Humphrey (1965–1969) inspecting Metropolitan Police Department motormen.
The 1960’s brought about the use of patches for K-9 handlers as well as a CDU patch which was worn on the left breast of the cover-all style uniform.
The April 9, 1970, edition of the Evening Star reported that the Metropolitan Police Department planned to change the look and style of their uniforms beginning that summer. The proposed new style included the use of a shoulder patch intended to complete the uniform’s appearance. Photographs of officers wearing the new uniforms displayed this type of shoulder patch. Although the new uniforms were never implemented, the concept of having a department shoulder patch on the left sleeve was introduced.
The early 1970s—marked in Washington by intense protest activity—helped push the patch into broader visibility outside motor units.
During the May Day protests of May 1–5, 1971, MPD units (especially within the Special Operations Division, SOD) are documented wearing the second motormen shoulder patch, indicating adoption beyond motor units.
In 1972, we can also see the adoption of the half-circle Metropolitan Police patch attached to caps as well as the left sleeve.
The following year, 1972, saw the current patch can be viewed attached to the left sleeves of uniform shirts, consolidating the patch as an everyday marker of MPD identity rather than a motor‑only tradition.
In 1972, the Metropolitan Police Department had approximately 3000 sworn officers and it may be that a new department wide uniform patch had not been filtered all of the way through the department, however by the 1973 Nixon inauguration, the patch was in wide use, including on class A uniform blouses.
The following year, 1972, saw the current patch can be viewed attached to the left sleeves of uniform shirts, consolidating the patch as an everyday marker of MPD identity rather than a motor‑only tradition. In 1972, the Metropolitan Police Department had approximately 3000 sworn officers and it may be that a new department wide uniform patch had not been filtered all of the way through the department, however by the 1973 Nixon inauguration, the patch was in wide use, including on class A uniform blouses.
The shoulder patch design recognizable today as the official departmental patch for Richard Nixon’s 1973 inauguration, when patrol officers—consistent with tradition—wore a single patch on the left sleeve. The left-sleeve convention has practical and semiotic roots: on many U.S. uniforms the left arm faces the public during salutes, traffic direction, and formal presentations, turning that sleeve into a natural stage for department identity. Nationally, the early‑1970s are also a moment of consolidation in patch design, with many agencies shifting from simple text patches to elaborate seals or local symbols that deepen connections to place and mission.
In 2000, former Chief Charles Ramsey implemented a modification to the departmental uniform by introducing the American Experience patch, also known as the flag patch, on the right shoulder. This change was evidently influenced by Chief Ramsey’s previous experience with the Chicago Police Department, where officers wear the department’s patch on their left shoulder and the city of Chicago flag patch on their right shoulder.
Under current departmental guidelines, the American Experience patch has been retired, and the current shoulder patch is worn on both the left and right sleeve of the uniform.