Custodian Helmet - History

History

The custodian helmet is the headgear traditionally worn by male Police Constables and Sergeants while on foot patrol in England and Wales. Officers of all ranks are also issued a flat, peaked cap which is worn on mobile patrol in a vehicle. Ranks above Constable and Sergeant often only wear the flat cap due to braiding on the peak which denotes their rank.

The original design was based on the Victorian British Army Home Service helmet, which itself was based on the Prussian helmet.

It was first adopted by the London Metropolitan Police in 1863 to replace the 'stovepipe' top hat worn since 1829. In 1863, the Metropolitan Police replaced the previous uniform of white trousers, swallow-tailed coat and top hat in favour of very dark blue trousers, a more modern button up tunic and the early type of helmet which had an upturned brim at the front and a raised spine at the back, running from the bottom to the top of the helmet, which became known as the 'cockscomb'.

The early Metropolitan Police helmet had a 'garter' style badge on the front of the helmet which had the officers personal number and divisional letter in the centre, backed by a leather insert. This was surrounded by a wreath design which had the words 'Metropolitan Police' around the outside and was topped with the reigning monarch's crown. This style changed in 1875, when an early version of the brunswick star was adopted without the upturned brim seen in the previous style.

During the 1930s, the Home Office attempted to standardise the design of the helmets with the 'Home Office Pattern', after it became evident that since the Metropolitan Police had adopted it and produced their own badge, many small county and borough police forces followed suit and individually adopted their own style badges and designs, which led to many different styles and designs. Some forces adopted the helmet without any badge, others designed their own usually with the county's arms or cest in the centre. One force adopted an Australian style bush hat and one wore a helmet constructed of straw.

The 'Home Office Pattern' consisted of a helmet with the Brunswick star badge (commonly known as a 'helmet plate') which would feature the reigning monarch's crown, with the name of the force imprinted on the plate. The top of the helmet had a 'rose top', which was a raised metal rose, largely used as an ornament to cover the ventilation hole. However, this standardisation process was largely unsuccessful, with many different designs being worn by today's police forces nationally.

The term of 'custodian helmet' is used to describe all types of helmet, but in fact only refers to the original helmets which were made of cork and then covered in felt. Internally, helmets up until the 1970s, and in certain areas the 1980s, had only a sweat band to allow it to sit correctly on the wearers head, with a single chin strap. The helmet plate and either a 'cockscomb' or 'rose top' fixed to the top of the helmet, were fitted by pressing the metal lugs attached to the badges through the helmet and then having small matchstick-size pieces of wood pushed through the lugs to secure them. Other helmet furniture included a 'ball top' and in some cases a 'spike top'

During the 1970s and 1980s, before specially adapted 'riot helmets' were produced, officers were expected to conduct public order and crowd control in the standard beat duty helmet. The cork construction provided little protection to attack and hand-thrown missiles. In order to provide more protection, the construction of the helmets changed. Visually they remained the same, however instead of being constructed of cork they were now made out of a very hard wearing plastic material and covered in felt. Internally, they were padded with foam which was factory fitted into the shell of the helmet with a webbing-style harness to allow it to sit on the head in the correct manner. Also, two chin straps were added at this time, one for normal duties which was a thin leather strap and a 'public order strap' which was made of thick material and included a chin-cup to securely hold the helmet on the head. As well as these changes, helmet plates were altered so that the fixings on them were no longer lugs, but were prong-type pins which were inserted into the helmet and spread apart, so that if the helmet plate was hit by a missile, the lugs would not cause injury to the wearer.

All police forces in England and Wales wear the custodian helmet, although some such as Thames Valley Police have discontinued the practice. As well as in the UK, other forces include the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police (in England and Wales only), States of Jersey Police, States of Guernsey Police Service, Isle of Man Constabulary, Royal Gibraltar Police, Bermuda Police and a number of port police forces in the UK including the Port of Dover Police.

During 2002, attempts were made by police forces in England to replace the custodian helmet with a more suitable alternative. Some forces adopted baseball-caps for a very short time and almost all reverted to the helmet. Humberside Police trialled a 'squat' helmet which was considerably shorter than the normal size helmets, and was adopted for use and is still used in 2012.

All police forces in the UK have their own 'helmet plates' attached to the front of the helmet, most of which feature the county's coat of arms/crest or 'EiiR' after Elizabeth II in the center. The vast majority are also topped by the Queen's Crown and change with each new Monarch. Also, most helmet plates now feature parts with coloured enamel, such as the force name or crest. Adding enamel to helmet plates has only been done since around 1985, most forces before this had plain metail ones with no or little colour. Some forces also used 'night plates', which was usually darkened apart from the center, and 'day plates' which were metal, in order to not give the officer away at night time. This practice had almost completely ceased by 1973.

Police forces in the UK did not issue custodian helmets to Special Constables up until around 1995, however all forces now issue them to male officers.

The traditional cork construction often led CID personnel to call their uniformed colleagues "woodentops".

Helmets are no longer worn by police officers from Scottish forces, but may be seen worn by uniformed Metropolitan Police officers when on Royal duties in Scotland.

The equivalent for female officers is a 'bowler' hat, which still affords the same protection as the male custodian. Police Community Support Officers only wear flat caps, which have a blue band on them rather than the police officers Sillitoe Tartan to distinguish them from police officers.