How To Design A Custom Challenge Coin For Your Police Department
Given that many military veterans saw law enforcement as a logical career path following their service, it’s no wonder that both federal and local law enforcement agencies immediately developed their own bespoke police challenge coins. Challenge Coins 4 U is concentrating on inspirations for local police challenge coins to best represent the distinctive personality or purpose of your law enforcement group in today’s design post.
How to Begin Using Police Challenge Coins
Only you and your fellow cops know which style or coin kind is appropriate for representing your department. So consider your police force and what these coins will signify or mean when you distribute them. Are these coins for the whole police department or for a single unit? Do you desire a stern and silent design that respects an officer’s obligations and responsibilities? Or perhaps you want a vibrant, edgy design that expresses the spirit and competence of your unit? These questions will assist you in determining what makes your department or function in the police force special, which will make selecting the specific design alternatives or adjustments for your police challenge coin much simpler.
Throughout the design process, try to recall why you’re creating challenge coins for your police department. A challenge coin created to honor a fallen officer, for example, will have a far more somber appearance than a coin made to be given out at a department fundraiser party. We may begin working on the specifics of your design once you’ve decided how you want to spend your budget.
Elements of a Common Police Coin Design
Law enforcement challenge coins recognise law enforcement officers for their service, symbolise the pride of their profession, and serve as a reminder of officers’ responsibilities. Of course, choosing the correct symbols with which cops can recognise might be difficult. Fortunately for you, we see hundreds of police and law enforcement organisations each year, and we’ve found a few common aspects that may make it readily associated with law enforcement while yet keeping a department’s own identity.
Blue is the official colour of law enforcement for nearly a century, therefore it’s no wonder that many police challenge coins incorporate blue design elements. While blue is nearly universal among police challenge coins, how you choose to include blue in your design distinguishes it and gives it a much stronger statement. In relation to the term “the thin blue line,” we’ve found that adding a single line of blue, either in the middle or as a big ring around the perimeter of a coin is popular among clients.
Police Identification: Unique police badges are distributed to practically every department and are a long-rooted symbol of power and respect with as many variations as there are towns, making them perfect additions to a coin design as a symbol to unite policemen. Many departments want their badges to be the focal point of their design, and they frequently match them with a department/unit phrase.
Police Equipment: From the conventional sidearm to handcuffs, there are several things on the list that are synonymous with law enforcement. If you need a fast method to identify a unit’s special tasks, making a coin that features some of your group’s most recognisable equipment or tools is a simple but effective approach to producing a coin specific to your unit. For example, many K-9 Units come to us with drawings that include a beloved police dog from the agency, whereas SWAT Teams like emphasising their military tactics by including assault rifles and riot shields.
Michael, Archangel: The Christian Archangel Michael, the Archangel of Protection, is a prominent emblem on police challenge coins. Many departments around the country prefer to put their own creative perspective on the archangel, from traditional mural-style painting to more styled drawings.
Custom Police Coins Are Being Localized
It’s one thing to know what emblems or designs other police forces use, but you want your coin to be distinctive to your agency. It’s important to develop methods to localise your design and identify with your receivers as their police challenge coins, not just as police challenge coins. Looking up methods to integrate local landmarks or recognised neighbourhood scenes from your police department’s town is one suggestion we employ for practically every police coin. Including these scenes on a coin not only strengthens the bond with a community but also personalises it to your department’s duty as a town’s guardian. Furthermore, rather than using generic or broad police symbols, make space for highly specific insignias, in-jokes, names, or plain memes that only officers from a specific station, unit or task force would understand. You need your police coins to be personal to your unit or personnel, and Small details like this make a coin far more personal and traceable to your local law enforcement. Consider the design of coin design we created for the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, which features the Talmadge Memorial Bridge and honours their Mobile Field Force.
The coin was made from high sandblasted gold with rich blue features framing the coin’s edge and the police symbols. The bridge, positioned in the design’s centre on one side, is a historic communal monument that any local would know, making it ideal for displaying the force’s local identity. Furthermore, the lightning bolt shield insignia is a one-of-a-kind mark used specifically by the Mobile Field Force, symbolising the Mobile Field Force’s community duties. The end product is a highly customised challenge coin that acknowledges the officer’s profession, interacts with their specific neighbourhood, and eventually identifies as a one-of-a-kind emblem of their position and company. By now, you’ve probably got a few ideas on how you want your coin to look, but if you need some inspiration, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite police challenge coins to help you get started. You’ll note that many of them seem the same, yet each one has a distinct personality that makes it distinctive to each police agency.
You have a choice.
Following these design recommendations, as well as choosing an expert maker with years of expertise (Hint: we’ve been doing this for over a decade), will guarantee that your coin design not only looks beautiful but also appears appropriate for your law enforcement agency. Challenge Coins 4 U is the best challenge coin company around for professional design and outstanding service, offering everything from colour options to bespoke forms. To get started, send us a free quotation now!