Duty armband

The armband consisted of blue and white vertically striped cloth and between 1835 and 1864, Sergeants were required to wear a narrower version on the right forearm as a badge of rank.

Constables and sergeants attached to Road Policing Units were exempt from wearing the armlet due to the risk of catching it on an indicator arm.

From 1910 to the end of the war, specials were not usually issued with uniforms, but were instead expected to wear an armband just above the elbow of the left arm displaying their identification number and rank.

For a short time, special sergeants and inspectors were required to wear a second armband on their right arm to indicate rank.

This gave rise to a term used throughout the remainder of the twentieth century by some officers where if an colleague unfairly declined to take on a given issue, it would be said that he had "cuffed" the matter.