Police emoji meanings: 👮 🚓 🚨 and the rest of the patrol
Police Officer is the police emoji: a person in a peaked cap with a badge. It has been in Unicode since 6.0 in 2010, and the man and woman versions and are the same character joined to a gender sign, which is what the searches for "police emoji boy" and "police emoji girl" are after. Hold the emoji on a phone keyboard and the gendered and skin-tone versions appear. In messages it means the police themselves, "I'm calling the cops" as a joke, or a friend policing your spelling.
The vehicles do the rest of the talking. Police Car is the patrol car seen from the side and Oncoming Police Car the same car driving at you, which is why reads as "they're coming". Police Car Light is the rotating beacon on its own, and it long ago left the police behind: in comments and headlines means breaking news, an alert, "pay attention now". Helicopter and Motorcycle are the air support and the motorcycle cop, and Service Dog is the closest thing to a K-9 unit. Guard is the British guard in a bearskin, more ceremonial than police, but it belongs to the same uniformed family.
For the badge and kit there is Shield (a police shield is literally what many badges are called), Identification Card for ID checks, Military Medal for a decorated officer, Safety Vest for the hi-vis of traffic duty, Flashlight for the night patrol and Saluting Face for "yes, officer". is drawn as a green water pistol on nearly every platform since Apple changed it in 2016, so it is more joke than threat. The sheriff is Cowboy Hat Face plus a star, either the emoji or the plain text . And when it is real, SOS Button, and are the call for help.
Law, judge and court emoji: and the missing gavel
Balance Scale is the law emoji and the justice emoji in one: the scales of Lady Justice, weighing both sides. In a bio it means lawyer, law student or paralegal; in a post it means fairness, a court case, or a hard choice. It is an old character, added to Unicode in 2005 as a symbol and turned into an emoji in 2015, and it shares its scales with the zodiac sign Libra. Judge is a person with the scales on their chest; the woman and man judges arrived in 2016 and the gender-neutral one in 2019. Classical Building is the courthouse, the supreme court or the law school, since courts the world over borrowed the columned Greek temple.
People search for a judge emoji hammer, a court emoji hammer and a law emoji hammer, and the answer is that there is no gavel emoji. Hammer is the stand-in everyone uses, usually next to or so the meaning is clear. There is no lawyer emoji either: the usual lawyer emoji is with , or Necktie and Briefcase on their own for the suit and the files. Scroll is the law itself, a constitution, a decree or an old statute, and Open Book is the law book or the code.
Paper is half of any case. Clipboard, Page Facing Up, Page with Curl and Memo are the filings and the written statement, Locked with Pen is a signed and sealed document, and Handshake is a settlement or a plea deal. Signatures come from Writing Hand, Fountain Pen, Black Nib and Pen. The witness box has its own faces: Raised Hand for the oath, Speaking Head for testimony, Index Pointing at You for the accusation, for "I deny it", and for the right to remain silent and Lying Face for perjury. cover bail, the fine and the parking ticket.
Detective, evidence, jail and handcuffs emoji:
Detective joined in 2014 under the Unicode name "sleuth or spy": a trench coat, a hat and, on most platforms, a magnifying glass. It means investigating, snooping, a true-crime binge or "I found out". Magnifying Glass Tilted Left and Magnifying Glass Tilted Right are the search itself; the two are identical apart from the direction of the handle, so pick whichever faces the thing you are pointing at. Eye, Eyes and Face with Monocle are surveillance and scrutiny, Disguised Face is the undercover officer, and Eye in Speech Bubble means "I am a witness".
The evidence row is the forensics lab: Fingerprint, new in 2024, Footprints, DNA and Microscope, with Camera with Flash for the mugshot or the speed camera and Video Camera for CCTV. Bust in Silhouette is the unknown suspect and the lineup. The case goes into , the files, the dividers, the evidence box and the records cabinet.
There is no handcuffs emoji and no jail or prison emoji, so people improvise. Chains is the handcuffs emoji by common consent, Broken Chain (2023) is escape or freedom, and Locked, Locked with Key, Key and Old Key are the cell door; is the usual jail emoji combo. The crime side is Supervillain for the criminal, Person Running for the getaway, for the weapons in a mystery plot and Bank for the heist.
Traffic law, prohibition signs and the text symbols lawyers type
Traffic police live in Vertical Traffic Light, Horizontal Traffic Light, Stop Sign (2016) and Construction, the barrier that closes a road. The forbidding signs are the law in symbol form: No Entry, Prohibited, Warning and No One Under Eighteen, the one legal age limit that has its own emoji. The full set of those signs has its own page in Warning & Prohibited Sign Emoji, and the locks continue in Lock, Key & Security Emoji.
Two plain text characters are more "law" than any emoji. §, the section sign, cites a section of a statute: 28 U.S.C. § 1331 in the United States, § 823 BGB in Germany, with §§ for several sections. ¶, the pilcrow, marks a paragraph in contracts and court documents and is the hidden-formatting mark in Word. On a Mac, § is Option6 and ¶ is Option7; on Windows, Alt0167 and Alt0182. The stars and are the sheriff's badge in plain text, and they survive in usernames where emoji are stripped. The copyright and trademark signs that belong in a legal footer are on the Copyright & Legal Symbols page.
Symbols
98Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Police on duty
The officer, the patrol cars and the siren, then the badge and kit, the sheriff and the call for help.
Detective work and evidence
Investigating, the traces a suspect leaves, and the case files.
Court, judges and lawyers
Justice itself, the lawyer's desk, oaths and testimony, signatures, and what the court charges.
Jail, locks and crime
There is no handcuffs or prison emoji, so chains and locks do that work.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copyPolice & Law Emoji combos
15Worth knowing
- Eye in Speech Bubble was added in 2015 for the Ad Council's "I Am A Witness" anti-bullying campaign, the first emoji made for a campaign. It means "I saw it", which is why it fits a witness.
- is still named PISTOL in the Unicode standard, but Apple redrew it as a green water pistol in 2016 and the other platforms followed by 2018, so its keyboard name became Water Pistol. In 2024 X turned its version back into a handgun.
- There is no gavel, handcuffs, prison or lawyer emoji as of Emoji 17.0, which is why , , and do their jobs and "judge emoji hammer" is a common search.
- Fingerprint is one of the newest emoji here, approved in Unicode 16.0 in 2024, while Balance Scale is one of the oldest, a text symbol since Unicode 4.1 in 2005.
- Name Badge looks like a fire or a warning sign, but it is a Japanese kindergarten name tag shaped like a tulip; people pin it on avatars for "officer on duty" anyway.
Questions people ask
8How do I copy and paste police emoji?
Tap or click , or in the grid above and it is copied. Paste it with CtrlV, CmdV or a long-press into WhatsApp, Instagram, Discord or a document; on iPhone and Android the same characters show in each platform's own drawing.
Is there a handcuffs emoji?
No. There is no handcuffs emoji in Unicode, so people use Chains, Link or Locked, usually next to . reads as arrested almost everywhere.
Is there a gavel or judge hammer emoji?
No gavel emoji exists. Hammer next to Judge or Balance Scale is what people send for a court ruling, and alone already means judge.
What is the lawyer emoji?
There is no dedicated lawyer emoji. Balance Scale is the usual one in bios; or spell out lawyer more fully. Judge is , and the woman judge is .
What does the police emoji mean?
Police Officer means the police, law and order, or jokingly "calling the cops" or policing someone's behaviour. With it is an alert; with or it means arrested or jailed.
What does the police car light emoji mean?
is the rotating siren light. Literally it means police or an emergency; in posts and comments it means alert, urgent or breaking news, and is the loudest version.
Is there a jail or prison emoji?
No, so people build one: for arrested and jailed, or for the cell, for getting out. with covers the court that sent them there.
How do I get the woman police officer or woman judge emoji?
Long-press or on an iPhone or Android keyboard and pick the woman or man version and a skin tone. They are the same emoji joined with a gender sign: and .
