page_title: Police Service of Northern Ireland
section_title: Uniform
hierarchical_section_title: Police Service of Northern Ireland / Uniform
caption_attribution_description: English: Two officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland http://www.psni.police.uk/
context_page_description: The Police Service of Northern Ireland
  is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary after it was reformed and renamed in 2001 on the recommendation of the Patten Report.
  Although the majority of PSNI officers are Ulster Protestants, this dominance is not as pronounced as it was in the RUC because of positive action policies. The RUC was a militarised police force and played a key role in policing the violent conflict known as the Troubles. As part of the Good Friday Agreement, there was an agreement to introduce a new police service initially based on the body of constables of the RUC. As part of the reform, an Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland was set up, and the RUC was replaced by the PSNI on 4 November 2001. The Police Act 2000 named the new police service as the Police Service of Northern Ireland; shortened to Police Service of Northern Ireland for operational purposes.
  All major political parties in Northern Ireland now support the PSNI.
context_section_description: The colour of the PSNI uniform is bottle green. Pre-1970s RUC uniforms retained a dark green called rifle green, which was often mistaken as black. A lighter shade of green was introduced following the Hunt reforms of the early 1970s, although Hunt recommended that British blue should be introduced. The Patten report, however, recommended the retention of the green uniform (Recommendation No. 154). The RUC officially described this as 'rifle green'. When the six new versions of the PSNI uniform were introduced, in March 2002, the term 'bottle green' was used for basically the same colour to convey a less militaristic theme.
  In 2018 a formal review was launched about the current uniform after officers gave feedback it. No changes have been made as a result of the review as of August 2019.
  The PSNI badge features the St. Patrick's saltire, and six symbols representing different and shared traditions:
  The Scales of Justice (representing equality and justice)
  A crown (a traditional symbol of royalty but not the St Edward's Crown worn by or representing the British Sovereign)
  The harp (a traditional Irish symbol but not the Brian Boru harp used as an official emblem in the Republic)
  A torch (representing enlightenment and a new beginning)
  An olive branch (a peace symbol from Ancient Greece)
  A shamrock (a traditional Irish symbol, used by St Patrick, patron saint of all Ireland, to explain the Christian Trinity)
  The flag of the PSNI is the badge in the centre of a dark green field. Under the Police Emblems and Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 no other flag can be used by the PSNI and it is the only one permitted to be flown on any PSNI building, vehicle, aircraft or vessel.
caption: Male and female PSNI officers on a pier in Bangor, County Down
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