Last modified: 2002-10-19 by jarig bakker
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![[South African Police Service flag]](../images/z/za-saps.gif)
by Martin Grieve, 9 Oct 2002
See also:
![[South African Police Service badge]](../images/z/za)saps.jpg)
image from this
website, located by Jarig Bakker, 14 May 2002
The South African Police Service (SAPS) recently adopted a new flag
to reflect the changes which the old South Africa Police (SAP) has undergone
and to promote the new identity of the SAPS.
The flag follows the basic design of its predecessor, and indeed those
of the SA Armed Forces and the Correctional Services department.
The flag has the South African national flag in the canton fimbriated
in white at the fly. The field of the flag is dark blue with the new badge
of the SAPS in the lower fly. Dividing the flag into two halves is a gold
horizontal stripe (one-seventh the width of the flag). The new flag was
officially adopted in October 1997 and replaces the flag of the former
SAP, which followed the same basic design but with the old flag and old
police badge, which was adopted in 1983.
Only the national flag has been flown at police stations between April
1994 and October 1997.
Bruce Berry, 12 Aug 1998
I have sent a current version of a SAP flag without the badge. I don't
have a copy of what the badge looks like, but you'll get the idea.
Calvin Paige Herring, 12 Aug 1998
South African Police: granted 14 Oct 1983
Description: A rectangular blue flag, proportions three
by two, with a single yellow horizontal stripe one-seventh the width of
the flag, across the centre, in the canton the National Flag and
in the lower fly the badge of the South African Police.
Source: Data
of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations.
Mark Sensen, 19 May 2002
South African Police Service: granted 17 Oct 1997
Description: A rectangular blue flag, proportions two by three, with
a single yellow horizontal stripe one-seventh the width of the flag, across
the centre, in the canton the national flag of the Republic of South
Africa as registered under Government Notice No. 645 of 5 May 1995, and
in the lower fly the badge of the South African Police Service as
registered under Government Notice No. 1548 of 6 October 1995.
Source: Data
of the Bureau of Heraldry on registered heraldic representations.
Mark Sensen, 19 May 2002
The flag of the SA Police Service is very similar to the flag of its
predecessor, the South African Police (also called South African Police
Force). The SAP flag is the same blue, has the same yellow bar, and has
the 1928 national flag in the same position as the 1994 version in the
current flag. The police badge is in the same position, and the sunburst
is identical.
The difference, aside from the 1928 flag, is that in place of the aloe
in the centre of the badge, there is a representation of the 1930 version
of the Union of South Africa coat of arms. You will find this at my
website. The switch from the arms to the aloe was a very good one,
from both a political and an aesthetic point of view. The use of the complete
achievement made the badge very hard to recognise, and is on a par with
similar heraldic misuses still traditional in South African traffic police
forces (provincial and municipal). The SAP flag came into use in the 1960s
or '70s. I'm not sure of the date.
Mike Oettle, 14 Oct 2002
The SA Railway Police was a division of the South African Railways and
Harbours Administration. It was originally purely a transport policing
section, but ended up with wide powers because of its jurisdiction in SAR&H
hostels in the black townships. They used to spend a lot of time raiding
these hostels for dagga (cannabis/marijuana - or, as they seem to call
it in Amsterdam, tee). The SARP was also responsible for airport and harbour
security, and had its own launches. Sadly, the only flag I recall seeing
on their launches was the national flag. The SARP was merged with the SAP
in the mid-1980s.
Mike Oettle, 14 Oct 2002
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