Gloucestershire Constabulary to fund crest update ‘gradually’

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Constabulary will update its crest on police buildings, vehicles, badges and other items on a gradual basis but will not receive any extra funding to pay for it.

The force is among many organisations across the country which use the royal cypher as part of their logo.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II earlier this year and the subsequent proclamation of King Charles III as the country’s new monarch means the constabulary needs to update its crest. The new monogram combines King Charles’s initial ‘C’ with ‘R’ for Rex, the Latin word for king, and III as he is the third English monarch of that name.

This cypher replaces the E II R of Queen Elizabeth II and will feature on the crest of the constabulary.

But there will be no immediate change for most of the constabulary and the force is currently in the process of developing a rollout plan.

However, some things such as their social media pages and websites have been updated to reflect the changes. The funding for updating the new crest will need to come from the constabulary’s own budget as no national funding will be provided to help with the costs. How much the total bill will be is yet to be known.

A police spokesperson said: “In line with national guidance, we have started a gradual process of updating our crest in all the places it is used.

“There is no immediate change for most of the constabulary, and we’re developing a rollout plan. Some changes, such as those online, can be done fairly quickly and at no or minimal cost, so this work is under way. Other work will be done as things need replacing. No money is set aside nationally for this, so all forces – in line with any other organisations that carry the royal cypher of Queen Elizabeth ll – will fund any costs for changes themselves.”