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Fife County Council, Scotland

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Fife Police

Fife Police

image located by Vanja Poposki, 7 August 2012

I have found a bigger photograph than the one supplied by Valentin, which you can see here: http://www.fife.police.uk/images/logo%20F540.jpg. Sadly for such a large image it is out of focus, but nonetheless, detail is still visible. There is also the question of the proportion of the coat of arms on the flag, although it is clear it is very big and (probably) not quite centred, as there is a smaller gap at the top than at the bottom of the flag.

What is also quite interesting is that over the years since the nineteenth century, Fife Constabulary has had the Thane of Fife emblem has its cap badge which then got subsumed within a Coat of Arms in 1999 and in 2001, the whole Coat of Arms became subsumed within a logo, so the Thane became even smaller, so small that he is almost indistinguishable, although the rather neat rhyming motto REINFORCING THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN FIFE was added below.

Fife Constabulary was formed on 16 May 1949 from an amalgamation of eight previous local forces, including Fife County Constabulary dating from 1840, and Dunfermline City Police in 1832.

The former county of Fife is approximately 45 miles long by 25 miles broad and is located on a peninsula between the Firths of Tay and Forth, bound on the east by the North Sea and the west by the counties of Clackmannanshire, Perthshire and Kinross-shire.

Historical images on the force web site show that from the nineteenth century, the cap badge featured the Thane of Fife on its cap badge. The force web site explains that a succession of Thanes, or Knights, kept order in Fife on behalf of the Kings of Scotland during the Middle Ages. In 1999 on the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the force, Lord Lyon King of Arms granted Fife Constabulary a Coat of Arms, which still featured the Thane of Fife emblem, though in a much reduced scale in its centre.

The Fife Police web site blazons the arms thus: "a shield containing the Police chequered bands in the form of a Scottish Saltire, surmounted by the Thane. A golden coronet and cross are included to represent the insignia of the old Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Forces, while the common Scottish Police Service badge is used for the crest. The knight's helmet is symbolic of the right to bear arms in defence of law and order. The supporters comprise a deer, associated with former royal hunting forests in the area of Falkland, and a Scottish lion rampant."

It is this coat of arms which features on the Fife Constabulary flag, located on a dark blue field. The force flag is flown on special occasions at the Police Headquarters building on Detroit Road, Glenrothes.

Sources:
(1) Fife Constabulary, web site, Fife Police Pictorial History, The Formation of Fife Constabulary,
http://www.fife.police.uk/default.aspx?page=1815, as consulted 08 August 2012
(2) A History of Policing in Fife, William Brown, stated to be dated 2001, as consulted Fife Constabulary web site, 08 August 2012
(3) Fife Constabulary, web site, Fife Police Pictorial History, Police History (1850 - 1900), http://www.fife.police.uk/default.aspx?page=1816, as consulted 08 August 2012
(4) Rennie Ritchie, retired police officer with Fife Constabulary, personal web site, http://www.rlmr.co.uk/polis/polis01.htm, as consulted 08 August 2012
(5) Fife Constabulary, Freedom of Information Disclosure Log F540, May 2012, as consulted Fife Constabulary web site, 08 August 2012

Colin Dobson, 8 August 2012