# sheriff's stars

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-stars/53687>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-stars/53687 "2001-02-08T21:06:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![harmon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@harmon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmon1)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-stars/53687/1 "2001-02-08T21:06:12Z")

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Why do sheriff’s use stars as symbols? Is there some arcane refrence afoot or is it just a nifty symbol of authority?

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-stars/53687/2 "2001-02-10T00:57:46Z")

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There are thousands of gifted specialists on the board – and **none** of you know the answer??

**harmon1** , I’ve been trawling Net sites until my eyes glazed over, I’ve been flicking encyclopaedia pages 'till the paper cuts got too much. Couldn’t find anything definitive. Can **someone** recommend this to Cecil as a really good question to answer? _Please ?_

All I know is (a) can’t find any photos of real Old West sheriff’s with badges. I suspect (in my cynical mind) that that guy-with-a-badge thing is make-believe.

(b) Present day US police departments, and sheriffs, use a variety of stars. Maybe it’s a visual thing, as well as stemming from the Stars-and-Stripes.

© Iceland sheriffs also have a star badge. I can’t seem to get my mind away from the thought that the star is a symbol of authority here.

Oh, and six-pointed stars have a legend of great power, according to a New Age site I blundered into.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-stars/53687/3 "2001-02-10T04:48:52Z")

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[SYMBOLS.com](http://SYMBOLS.com) has this to say on the use of the six- and five-pointed stars in connection with law enforcement. (It isn’t much and, IMNSHO, it overstates the point regarding the pentagram found on officers’ uniforms.)

[The Hexagram](http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/27/2722.html)  
[The Fivepointed Star](http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/28/2825.html)

All of the badges visible in Brian O’Neal’s **Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters** are 5-pointed city marshall badges. I have seen a few 7-point stars, as well.

It is possible that the sheriffs simply began copying the 6-pointed star from each other and it has now become common.