Citation bars are presented to personnel in law enforcement agencies like New York Police Department or NYPD and fire department personnel. These
police citation bars and other military citation bars are custom citation bars, which are given to these people in recognition of their outstanding service to the city and the nation. These citation bars highlight the career of the service personnel. In the United States, all the five military services have their own separate series of citation bars, badges, and decorations. Each branch of the military has formulated its own set of regulations that explain how, where and when these bars should be worn on the uniforms.
Originally, the military decorations consisted of a single medal and a ribbon. The ribbon was worn around the neck when the first awards were given in the US military. Later on, the backside of the ribbon was equipped with a metal fastener just like a safety pin. This fastener would be pinned to the uniform. Normally, the medal portion would be a gold plated metal piece and would be specially molded to a specific design. Then a ribbon would be attached to the top portion of the medal and pinned to the uniform.
As time passed by, colored ribbons were used by the military to symbolize each citation bar as a separate one. Either a single color or multiple color ribbons were used to differentiate each award that was displayed, representing the medal being awarded. Nowadays, they are made from a special fabric material, which is attached to a metal bar to provide support. These ribbon citation bars are smaller than the original citation bars. The firefighter or the law enforcement personnel could wear them to show his/her individual accomplishments. These custom citation bars could be worn in several rows revealing the various accomplishments of the individual.
Some departments require their personnel to wear the citation bars on the right breast, while some other departments stipulate that these bars should be worn on the left breast. The personnel could wear a leather citation bar holder, which could hold a nameplate and a badge on the bottom of the holder. All other awards would be worn above the badge. Usually, the highest award would be worn at the top of the holder, while the lesser citations would be worn below this award, in order of their relevance. These citation bars are given to law enforcement and fire department personnel in recognition of their outstanding work in their line of duty which contains lot of risk. Sometimes these awards are offered posthumously to the family of the person, who had sacrificed his/her life while performing the duty. The Legion of Honor is offered to recognize permanent injury, if that person is unable to attend to normal duty for about 3 months or more.
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custom citation bars for your law enforcement or police agency.