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Obverse Design
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Badge is based around a center circle. Perched on top of the badge is a gold
five-point star. The center circle has a green map of Panama on a blue background,
with crossed rifles and a pistol on top of the map. One rifle is black, the other
rifle and the pistol are gold. One the the rifles which appears to be an M-16 and
the other an M-14 with a suppressor attached.
There are short gold lines at the top, bottom,
right and left of the circle. This inner circle is surround by a black
outer circle with gold lettering that reads "LEALTAD VALOR SACRIFICIO".
These mottos stand for "LOYALTY BRAVERY SACRIFICE". Under the circle is a small
tricolor shield with the colors of the Panamanian flag (red, white and blue).
Two gold branches come up from either side of the shield and make up the left
and right edges of the badge. A black banner with gold lettering makes up the
bottom edge of the badge. The lettering says "POLICIA" on our left side,
"NACIONAL" on out right and "G.A.P." in the middle. "POLICIA" means "POLICE"
and "NACIONAL" means "NATIONAL". "G.A.P." may stand for "Grupo de Accion Policial",
sort of a SWAT organization in the Panama National Police.
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Reverse Design
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Three push pins, two on the sides and one on the bottom.
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Metal
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Unknown metal. Multi-colored.
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Size and Shape
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About 63 mm wide by 65 mm high (2 1/2 inches by 2 3/8 inches).
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Dates Issued
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Sometime after the National Police was organized in 1990.
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Issurer
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"G.A.P." may stand for "Grupo de Accion Policial", sort of a SWAT organization in
the Panama National Police. The GAP was/is a unit with SWAT/special
operations/counter-terror tactics, which is a takeoff of the old UESAT
(Unidad Especial AntiTerror) of the defunct PDF. The unit was/is answerable directly
to the Director of the National police and/or the President. They used to wear
black BDU-type clothing and were headquartered at the Ancon Police HQ's
with another sub-station in the Villa de Las Fuentes area.
The unit commander had the rank of Captain, which is unusual given the
hierarchical structure of the organization as a whole. During the 1995
timeframe it was headed by a Captain Miranda.
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Numbers Issued
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Badge type is unnumbered.
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Source
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King Collection, purchase from "Panama Dave" (David Collar).
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Varieties
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None known.
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Discussion
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This badge is not the badge worn by GAP members, but appears rather to be more
of a unit crest. It is considered suspicious in that it has a plastic type coating,
similar to the known fake FK-103.1 (FF DD Policia Counterfeit).
I would appreciate
e-mail from anyone who can add anything to this information. Thanks to Michael
Lloyd for his information about the G.A.P.
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