The origin of the insignia provides a cohesive framework through which the IACP’s history can be viewed. Throughout the historical account that follows, the power of this symbol emerges as a means of enhancing the image of the association, as well as the cohesiveness of its membership.

Webber S. Seavey, the chief of police in Omaha, must have been extremely disappointed. In November 1892, he had sent out 385 invitations to the heads of the largest police departments in the United States, urging them to join him in Chicago in May 1893 for the purpose of forming a national police organization. An added incentive to the proposed meeting was the opportunity to visit the World’s Colombian Exposition. This fair, which would open on May 1, 1893, was expected to be a truly magnificent event.

When roll call was taken on that historic Thursday morning, May 18th, only 51 chiefs had come to the meeting initiated by Chief Seavey. The lack of a larger turnout for such a potentially important meeting only served to emphasize the overriding need to create a spirit of cooperation among the nation’s police departments. As one of the 51 attendees recalled, it was a “perfectly obvious fact that there was no sort of cooperation between the municipal police departments of America.…” Others would have put it more strongly—that mistrust and destructive rivalry dominated the relationships among police agencies.

Regardless of their small representation, the 51 chiefs spent a busy three days in Chicago. They elected Seavey as their president and Harvey Carr, chief of Grand Rapids, as their secretary/treasurer. Then they began making organizational plans, devising programs, considering resolutions and taking advantage of the various entertainments offered them. They had an opportunity to see the fair and, by special invitation, an afternoon performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

By the time this initial organizational meeting had ended on May 20, 1893, it was decided that the group would call itself the National Union of Chiefs of Police of the United States and Canada. They also resolved “that we, the members of this organization of Chiefs of Police, hereby agree to assist each other on all occasions….” At the start, this plea for cooperation was seen as essential to the attainment of their most important objective—the establishment of a national bureau for the identification of criminals.

The next year, the newly formed union met in Saint Louis. The attendees celebrated their first birthday anniversary as well as the fact that their membership had increased to 113. More importantly, the group adopted a resolution calling on the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to “establish in connection with the Department of Justice, a Bureau for the identification of criminals and the dissemination of criminal information.”

Over the next few years, the chiefs made numerous efforts to petition Congress for support of this keystone program, but the only result was a condition of collective frustration. Finally, at their 1897 convention in Pittsburgh, Jacob Frey, the marshal of Baltimore, showed his prescience when he cautioned his fellow members about the focus of their efforts to create a national bureau of identification. “If they waited for Congress to act, they would all be in their graves; the only way to get it was for the police to establish it themselves; after that the government could become interested.”

Frey’s wisdom was accepted and, by the end of this convention, resolutions were passed that called for the establishment of a National Bureau of Identification (NBI) in Chicago. Members of the association who paid their $5 annual dues were eligible for bureau membership. They were, however, required to pay an additional assessment for the bureau’s services. These fees ranged from $10 to $100, depending on the population of the member city.

After this meeting ended on May 13, the chiefs acted quickly. On October 20, 1897, the organization, now known as the National Association of Chiefs of Police of the United States and Canada, opened the long-awaited bureau in Chicago’s city hall. The new bureau had its own board of governors with a president and a secretary, as well as full-time salaried expert in identification procedures who served as its superintendent. The NBI was now ready to circulate Bertillon measurements, photographs and criminal information among its subscribers.

Very soon after it became operational, the NBI’s services became recognized as a valuable source of information—not only by subscribers but also by those who could not afford to participate or were ineligible to belong to the association. Problems arose when a number of persons, both members and non-members of the association, tried to avail themselves of the bureau’s information without paying the additional assessment. By and large, this problem was dealt with by the introduction of identifying wreathed insignias to be displayed on the letterhead of all paid subscribers.

As the association’s membership, activities and influence increased, the member chiefs also had a need to identify themselves to one another in their official correspondence. The solution to this was the distribution of a rubber stamp to each member in good standing. The dates on the stamp were to be changed each year.

As the century drew to a close, the association’s leaders were convinced of the value of the benefits their members received for their $5 annual dues. Nevertheless, the challenge they faced was to persuade additional chiefs to become members. At the 1898 convention, Chief Janssen, the association’s president, said he did not feel it was necessary “to beg for people to join us.” He recommended a more indirect approach, asserting that “those who are not members be treated in a manner that will deem it important and a privilege to join.”