Saanich Police Department

MUNICIPAL POLICE SERVICE
SAANICH, BC

Saanich PD has been voted one of BC's Top Employers for four consecutive years, in a city that boasts one of the lowest crime rates in BC.

saanichpolice.ca

Saanich Police Department (SPD) is a mid-size police agency on southern Vancouver Island that serves a rural and urban community of more than 125,000 people. The department emphasizes a responsive and relationship-based approach, both to policing and to their staff. They have been recognized multiple times as one of BC’s Top Employers for their commitment to a healthy workplace, employee development, and community engagement.

THE ASK

Saanich PD has been keeping the city safe since 1906, but their approach to policing has evolved with the times. Today, SPD is a modern and progressive agency that emphasizes a relationship-based approach to community policing.

Indalma began working with SPD in 2024 because, like many agencies, their brand visuals and messaging had not kept pace with their progressive approach. SPD’s forward-thinking team recognized that to better connect with their growing community, inspire pride within their team, and attract new recruits, they needed to start refreshing their brand.

THE WORK

In 2020, SPD redesigned their crest (which had been in use since 1906), to showcase their values-based approach to community policing, and to honour the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples, whose traditional territories extend throughout the District of Saanich.

The Canadian Heraldic Society approved the crest in 2024, but the design needed to be digitized for use across departmental materials such as shoulder flashes, vehicle graphics, apparel, and social media. They also needed to tell the story of the crest – how and why it was created – including SPD’s collaboration with local Indigenous artists, and the meaning behind each of its elements.

Indalma’s design team worked from a provided sketch to digitize the image, define its Pantone colours, select the crest font, and create lockups of the design, while our copywriter worked with SPD to write the crest story. Today, both are featured on the SPD website.

SPD also requested signage for a feature wall in their multi-function room. They wanted messaging that would express their culture and mission, inspire a sense of purpose and pride in employees, and catch the attention of potential recruits during information sessions.

Indalma conducted an interview to uncover the values that mattered most to SPD – who they were, how they worked, and what they believed. We developed three different messaging concepts, and refined the one chosen by the leadership team, until the wording was ready for design.

As a central feature of the room, the new signage had to work with various furniture placements, so that it would feature prominently, whether the room was configured for a meeting, ceremony, or press conference. Indalma worked through various options with SPD, arriving at a combination of a bold, dimensional crest and lettering that added visual impact and textural interest, and vinyl wall applications of a large transparent crest behind the podium, along with the central message highlighted in the department’s bright gold.

In addition to our work with SPD, Indalma’s design team also digitized the Saanich Police Board crest, ensuring consistency between the two crests as another step forward in building a modern and professional police brand for this progressive agency.

To see more of the branding work Indalma has done for police agencies, please visit our portfolio pages for Surrey Police Service, Port Moody Police Department, Delta Police Department, Abbotsford Police Department and Grande Prairie Police Service. To see the full range of branding services we offer police agencies, please visit our Policing section.

OUR SERVICES