North Borneo Police Force

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North Borneo Police Force NBPF
Motto	PERGO ET PERAGO GO FORTH AND PROSPER
Agency overview
Formed	September 1881
Dissolved	1964
Superseding agency	Royal Malaysia Police
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	North Borneo: 1881–1942 World War II: Japanese North Borneo: 1942–1945 British Armed Forces: 1942–1946 Crown Colony: 1946–1963
1899 Map of North Borneo
Legal jurisdiction	British Borneo
Governing body	North Borneo Company Crown Colony
Operational structure
Headquarters	THE Barracks, Sandakan (1881–1902) Victoria Barracks, Jesselton (1902–1942) Humphreys Street Police Station, Sandakan (1945-1952) Marina Barracks, Kepayan (1952–1963)
Elected officer responsible	Governor of North Borneo
Agency executive	Commandant of the Constabulary
Notables
Awards	Jubilee Medal Punitive Expedition Medal Punitive Expeditions Medal Tambunan Expedition Medal Gallantry Cross General Service Award Colonial Police Medal

The North Borneo Police Force (NBPF), colloquially known as the Constabulary, officially known before 1 January 1950[1] as the North Borneo Armed Constabulary, and before 1946[2] as the British North Borneo Constabulary, was the sole police force and military unit raised by the British North Borneo Company for the protection of British North Borneo.[3][4] After 1946, the Constabulary would become a function of the Crown Colony of North Borneo and the Colonial Police Service.[2] Several smaller and more elite units fell under their command, such as the North Borneo Volunteer Force and the Mobile Police. The Constabulary was created by William Hood Treacher in September 1881, shortly before the signing of the Charter of North Borneo.[5] When the Constabulary was established, its headquarters were at a building called The Barracks in Sandakan.[3] Within a decade, they were at the Victoria Barracks in Jesselton. After the Second World War, they were moved to the Marina Barracks at Kepayan, which were dedicated by the Duchess of Kent.[2] The leadership of the Constabulary primarily comprised several British officers, while the enlisted ranks were mostly indigenous troops.[6] While originally limited to North Borneo alone, the Constabulary Ordinance Amendment No. 22 made provisions for reciprocal service between North Borneo and neighbouring territories in British Borneo. The Constabulary was led by a Commandant of the Constabulary, and for some years, also served as the Inspector of Prisons.[7]

As it was both a police and military organisation, in addition to solving crimes, the Constabulary participated in wars, battles, and expeditions. They participated in the colonial wars of the company to pacify local rebellions against colonial rule, such as the punitive expeditions launched against the Mat Salleh Rebellion.[8] They also fought piracy in the Sulu Sea.[2] From the inception of the Constabulary in 1881 until the invasion of the colony by the Empire of Japanin World War II, they were an extension of the Chartered Company. During the war, the Constabulary was split in its functional capacity; Officially, the Constabulary was made the police force of Japanese North Borneo. Unofficially, most of its members became guerrilla resistance fighters and spies for the British Armed Forces, resisting the Japanese administration and working to free prisoners of war (POWs), who were placed under the command of Lionel Matthews.[2][9] During the Cold War, the Constabulary was deployed to combat communist insurgencies throughout the jungles of Borneo.[2][10]

After the war, the company could no longer afford the management of a colony,[11] and the Constabulary became a function of the Crown Colony of North Borneo from 1946.[2] On 31 August 1963, the Crown Colony was disestablished when Sabah entered into self-governance, and the Constabulary fell under the independent Sabah State until the signing of the Malaysia Agreement on 16 September 1963.[11] Shortly afterward, the Police Force was merged with the Sarawak Constabulary and the Royal Federation of Malayan Police to create the Royal Malaysia Police. Sabah possessed a British police commissioner until 1967.[2]

The Dyaks had a large presence in the Constabulary. Large enough to create Dyak-specific platoons commonly known as the Dyak Police. Seen here is a Sergeant, indicated by the rank on his elbow and the red ceremonial sash, which was only worn by sergeants, who stood to the left of the rank in formation. This drawing is slightly inaccurate, in that Sergeants wore the Lion of Borneo on their headgear, while lower enlisted ranks wore numbers.[12]

On the Constabulary's first day, there were only 3 gazetted officers; a Commandant of the Constabulary and two Sub-Commandants, who oversaw a force of non-commissioned officers and constables. The governor of North Borneo, meanwhile, served as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.[5] The number of officers increased to 6 in 1903.[3] As policing in the British Empire evolved, the Constabulary evolved with different positions, such as the superintendent ranks. By at least the 1960s, the position of Commandant was replaced by the rank of Police Commissioner. The officership ranks of the Constabulary were nearly all white British officers, trained at military and police establishments in Britain.[13] Specifically, the Company recruited the officers for both the Civil Service of North Borneo and for the Constabulary in London.[5]

After the Constabulary was brought under the authority of the Crown Colony and the Colonial Police Service, more indigenous persons were raised through the ranks, and by the mid-1950's, at least several district Superintendents were indigenous.[2]

Initially, the corps of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and their enlisted constables were almost exclusively non-white. Foreign constables were imported from elsewhere in the British Empire, including a large contingent of Sihks brought from the British Raj and Perak, Dyaks from the Crown Colony of Labuan and elsewhere, Somalis from British Somaliland, and Malays from throughout the South China Sea.[3] There were also at least several Chinese constables.[2] Into the turn of the century, the constabulary employed Dusuns, Muruts, Tegaas, Sea Dyaks, and other local tribes. In the year 1957, the Constabulary employed 566 Dusuns, 155 Muruts, 4 Malays, 31 Chinese, 11 Indians, 9 Pakistani, 17 Sikhs, 74 Bruneis, and 104 people of other ethnicity (Dyaks are not mentioned in the 1957 report).[14]

After the establishment of the Police Training School, the Constabulary became mostly composed of local tribes, including local Dyaks.[6] However, the Dyaks were not the only tribal corps employed by the Constabulary, as especially notably are the Bajau and Orang Laut who were employed along the north coast for their speciality in anti-piracy operations.[2][15]

In 1916, the Company created the Volunteer Corps, but this was disbanded in 1920. In July 1938, the North Borneo Volunteer Force was created as a supplement to the Constabulary with two platoons of 50 men; one at Sandakan and the other at Jesselton. The Volunteer Force employed many Chinese people, enough to make up two full companies of soldiers. When the Attack on Pearl Harbor took place, the combined forces of the Constabulary and the Volunteer Force was 650 men. The governor requested an extra battalion from the Crown, but there were none available, so he increased the force by 50 men.[16]

By the year 1960, the commissioner of the North Borneo Police Force commanded the following branches;[17]

• Prisons
• Special Branch
• Criminal Investigations Department
• Police Band
• Immigration Department
• Road Transport
• Marine Police Branch
• Police Training School

The Bajau Police, seen here in 1950 performing transportation security, were incorporated into the Constabulary as a special unit that carried out anti-piracy and anti-smuggling operations throughout the colony, a function this tribe has provided Sabah since prehistory.[15]

Fighting piracy was one of the Constabulary's primary functions from its inception, and as such, it had a close connection to both the Royal Navy, and had its own maritime patrols.

According to Avtar Singh of the North Borneo Historical Association, the article which appeared in the Daily Express in January 2026 was incorrect in several details about this event – specifically, that there was no firefight at the police station which lasted for hours. This is also not recorded in the contemporary newspaper accounts.

On 29 March 1954, two kumpits landed at the jetty in the costal town of Semporna.[18] The Customs chief clerk, Gerard Chong, was getting ready to lock up for the night when the boats landed. He walked up to the vessels to ask them for their identification. A man aboard brought out a barong and swung it at Chong, who barely got away and ran into the hills.[19]

The men aboard the two vessels were Moro pirates, armed with fully automatic rifles, and they started firing their weapons at Chong. An off-duty Forrest Department officer named T.R. Barnard, aboard his own fishing boat down the bay, brought out a shotgun from his cabin and started firing at the pirates. Barnard killed one of the pirates before he was also shot and killed.[19]

Sergeant Sagar Singh was posthumously awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

The Semporna police station were mostly off-duty at the time, playing a match on the town's football pitch. They heard the shots at the beach, and began running to the police station to grab their own weapons, which were under lock-up.[19] Sergeant Sagar Singh, the officer-in-charge at the time, ordered his men to split up – one team rushed to the barracks to escort their families to safety, while Singh led the other team to rush into the station.[18]

When they got to the police station, another group of pirates was already there – they had landed at another part of the beach and had already secured the station. Singh was shot as soon as he got to the door.[19] Another policeman, Constable Jambuan, was slashed to death on the football pitch. Another four members of the constabulary were also killed instantly.[20] Singh didn't die from the gunshot. He got back up to fight off the attackers, but one of them slashed him in the back, and he died.

Constable Gimor took the remaining officers in the station to rush out of the building.[20] The pirates took control of the station for three hours. They looted the town and stole any valuables they could find.[18] They went out into the town in parties of three and four men each, raiding shopfronts for any valuables. They killed the town's goldsmith and a young Chinese boy. They also raided several houses, including the house of Henry Chow, who didn't have the time to load his shotgun and had to flee with his family into the jungle.[19]

Barnard was buried the next day at Lahad Datu.[19] Posthumously, Singh was awarded as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.[18]

Just prior to the Colony's merger with Malaysia in 1963, a British officer from the Marine Police Branch told a reporter from The New Yorker that:

"They're a raggle-taggle lot, these pirate fellows, and when you do catch up with them, you find that they're knock-kneed, cross-eyed, unshaven, and mean, and you can't get a word out of them. It's an odd thing, chasing pirates in a world where so much of great importance is going on—nuclear bombs and spaceships and new nations like Malaysia—but I've rather taken a fancy to it."[21]

In the Constabulary's early years, "native" officers stationed in rural villages were the "right-hand-man of the District Officer," and they acted as both police officers and civil servants.

Perhaps the most well-known expeditions of the British North Borneo Constabulary were a series of expeditions against Mat Salleh, a local guerrilla freedom fighter and leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion. Several expeditions were levied against him.[5]

The First Punitive Expedition in 1897 was led by Commandant J. M. Reddie and Governor Beaufort against Mat Salleh, who had a fort constructed at Ranau.[22] This expedition marched in and crushed the early phase of the rebellion, but Mat Salleh escaped.[23][5] The Punitive Expedition Medal was awarded for this expedition. Battles which occurred during the First Punitive Expedition include; Inanam in July 1897, Ranau in August 1897, December 1897, and January 1897, Ambong in 1897, and Labuk and Suglut through the years 1897 and 1898.[24] The Constabulary Adjutant, A. Jones, was killed in action at Ranau.[25]

Other expeditions against "malcontents or fugitives from justice" in the early years included the Puroh Expedition, the Kwong Raid, the Padas Damit Expedition, the Mumus Saip Expedition, and the Kwijau Rebellion.[5]

Commandant Harrington led the Tambunan Expedition, which killed Mat Salleh, leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion.

The 1889–1900 expedition which finally killed Mat Salleh, and his chief of staff, Mat Sator, was known as the Tambunan Expedition, led by Commandant C. H. Harringon. Harrington fell ill with fever during the expedition, and several missions were led by his sub-commandant, Claude Dansey, including the assault on the fort of Mat Sator. Harrington recovered from his fever and resumed command, and the Constabulary launched an attack on Salleh's fortress in the Tambunan Valley, Tambunan District.[8]

The Tambunan Expedition Medal was awarded to those that participated. The Mat Sator Museum now stands where Mat Sator was killed by Claude Dansey, and the Mat Salleh Memorial once stood where Mat Salleh was killed. Both of them are considered "heroes of Sabah," by many local residents.

Commandant William Raffles Flint lead the Sikh contingent of the Constabulary to march in the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Other expeditions carried out in the early years include the Kudat Raid, and the Rundum Expedition in 1915, which killed Antanum, among others.

On 19 January 1942, Governor Robert Smith, acting on orders received from the British, capitulated and surrendered to the Empire of Japan. Smith and the other heads of government were ordered by the Japanese to stay in their posts to recall firearms and issue a surrender to the forces of North Borneo. Most of these government administrators were then interred several weeks later at Berhala Island, but some civilians were allowed to stay under house arrest or confined to their villages. Several others were allowed to remain in Sandakan. The administration of Japanese North Borneo officially absorbed the Constabulary. However, the Constabulary secretly remained loyal to their former Commandant, and remained working under secret orders from Governor Smith and the Constabulary commanders interred in the camps around Borneo.[26]

Berhala Island as it appears today, with the village of Kampung Berhala Darat in the foreground. This island, formerly used as a leper colony, was home to a massive concentration camp during the war.

The primary method of communication was through the town's doctor, Dr. James P. Taylor, who had been allowed to maintain his clinic in Sandakan to provide care for the Japanese soldiers and local citizens living under the occupation.[27] To make normal shipments of medical supplies that the Japanese were not aware were being brought into the camps, Taylor forged dozens of bills-of-sale in his drug store. In this fashion, he secretly supplied the camps with field bandages, vitamins, quinine, motrin tablets and other drugs. He also snuck in supplies for the POWs to make portable radios.[26]

The couriers for this service were members of the Constabulary, who carried the supplies, and secret messages encoded by Taylor's wife who kept a codebook and cipher blocks hidden in their house. Outside of the camp, the leader of the Constabulary's resistance effectively became Dr. Taylor. Taylor also secretly organized a secret collection of funds for any POWs that managed to escape, and secretly organized food to be delivered into the camps. The Japanese sent the first group of Australia's 8th Division POWs, B Force, to Sandakan camp in July 1942. Another unit of the 8th Division, E Force, was sent initially to Kuching, and then to Berhala Island in April 1943. Before either of these groups had arrived, Taylor and his wife had managed to set up a functioning intelligence system for the civilian POWs of the camps to communicate with each other.[26][27]

Because all of their original command structure was still present, the Constabulary were able to form an effective resistance, sending a detachment of the North Borneo Volunteer Force – a reserve force of the NBPF – into the jungles to coordinate the activities of the Kinabalu Guerrillas and their leader Albert Kwok.[28]

The Commandant of the Constabulary, Alan Rice-Oxley, had been taken to Berhala Island alongside Governor Smith, maintaining the underground continuity of government. Constabulary Corporal Arbin, with the help of several Constabulary warrant officers named Jamadara Singh, Curaiaman Singh, Yangsalan Singh, and Ojaga Singh, passed weekly notes to those detained in Sandakan. Major Rice-Oxley on Berhala became the "clandestine Commander" of the Constabulary, and led the coordination activities among the prisoners of the 8th Division for their escape plan.[26]

Sandakan's chief engineer before the war, O. Mavor, had been allowed by the Japanese to stay in the town confined to the bungalow next to the engineer works and power station. A Chinese man named Ernesto Lagan, who had been hired by the Japanese to work in the Constabulary as a detective, supplied Mavor with information about Japanese troop movements and machine gun posts. Mavor then broadcast this information via enciphered radio broadcasts to be picked-up by the receivers in the camps. Communications from the Constabulary on the outside were regular and constant, via the secret mail and radio communications. Wherever POW camps in the area were in eyesight of one-another, they would use lamp signaling.[26]

In October 1942, a Chinese man named Mu Sing showed up at Sandakan and reported to the underground Constabulary. He was an officer in a Philippine resistance organization commanded by the son-in-law of the Sultan of Sulu which was at Batu Batu. Sing acted as a conduit between the POWs and two allied submarines stationed at Batu Batu. In December, the Filipinos supplied the Australians – through the North Borneo Constabulary – a map of Batu Batu. They also buried a cache of weapons on the road at Batu 8 (the 8-mile marker).[29]

Lionel Matthews was given the "clandestine" command of the Constabulary when Alan Rice-Oxley was sent to Kuching in January 1943.

However, when Rice-Oxley was sent to Kuching in January 1943, communication between Berhla Island and Sandakan was lost for three months, until April 1943, when E Force arrived there. It was at Kuching where Rice-Oxley met Lionel Matthews. When they discovered that Matthews would be shipped-out to Berhala, Rice-Oxley made Lionel Matthews the new Commandant of the Constabulary.[26] When Matthew arrived at Berhala, he then made introductions with Governor Smith, who confirmed his appointment as Commandant.

Several attempts at escape from the camps were made prior to April 1943, facilitated by the Constabulary, but they mostly failed. When E Force arrived at Berhala, a more solid escape plan was put together. Only three days after Matthews arrived on the island, he sent Constabulary Corporal Koram bin Anduat with a message to Sandakan Camp that preparations were being made for an escape in June.[29]

On 5 June 1943, sometime before 3:30am (when the Japanese discovered they were missing), 7 POWs escaped from the camp: Private R. N. McLaren, Private R. J. Kennedy, Staff Sergeant Wallace, Lieutenant Wagner, Lieutenant R. Blow, Lieutenant L. N. Gillon, and Captain Steele. They got away from the camp without discovery and linked-up with the Philippine Resistance, arriving in Australia six months later.[29]

The next month, July 1944, another escape was planned on the blueprint of the July escape. However, this attempt was betrayed. There were at least three spies planted by the Japanese living among the people at Sandakan, but this traitor was named Jackie Loh, a local from Sandakan who got in a business dispute with a Chinese man named Joo Ming.[27][29]

The camps were searched, and that summer many of the prisoners were then "arrested" by the Japanese. They severely tortured on a regular basis until February 1944 – a duration of over a year – with the suspected men often kept in bamboo cages. In February, they were "tried" in court and found guilty of aiding the escape.

On 2 March 1944, Detective Ernesto Lagan Sr., Jemedar (Warrant Officer) Ojagah Singh, Lieutenant Felix Azcona (of the Fillippino guerillas), Sergeant Arbin, Heng Joo Ming, Constable Alexander Funk, Wong Mu Sing, and Matusup Bin Gungau, were taken by the Japanese to an unknown location and beheaded. Lionel Matthews was shot, thus ending his command of the Constabulary. The engineer Mavor died in a civil jail in Singapore on 5 May 1945 of malnutrition.[29] The survivors of Berhala Island and Sandakan were then forced to march in the Sandakan Death Marches. As the name implies, many of them died.

Jock McLaren, one of the POWs who escaped from Berhala Island, returning there after the war. This escape would not have been possible without the members of the Constabulary.

After the war, medals of gallantry were awarded to those survivors of the Constabulary, including to Corporal Koram.[30] After the war, Corporal Koram was awarded the MBE.[31]

From 12 September 1945 to 1 July 1946, the British Military Administration of Borneo worked to restructure the former territory, but the Chartered Company was too financially encumbered by the war to continue running the colony.

In 1946, British North Borneo became the Crown Colony of North Borneo, and the British North Borneo Constabulary became a possession of the Crown Colony. As it was now "under the Crown," the Constabulary adopted the symbol of the crown and placed it on top of their badge. The name of the Constabulary at this point was changed to the North Borneo Armed Constabulary. Integration with the Colonial Police Service began at this point.[2]

Only several years later, in 1950, the name was changed to the North Borneo Police Force, which it maintained for the next 13 years.[2]

In November 1962, Tunku Abdul Rahman arrived in Jesselton. Upon his arrival, he performed an inspection of the NBPF's Guard of Honour at Jesselton Airport.

In 1962, North Borneo had only just held its first-ever public elections, and was in the process of establishing self-determination. An Inter-Governmental Committee was established to oversee the process in conjunction with the Cobbold Commission. In November 1962, Tunku Abdul Rahman visited the colony on a diplomatic tour. He landed at Jesselton Airport, toured the city, and then left for Sandakan. While in North Borneo, he met with members of the Civil Service, the leading political parties in the colony, and government department heads. After his tour, he left for the Sarawak Colony.[32]

However, intelligence was received at NBPF Special Branch shortly afterward that Tentara Nasional Kalimantan Utara (TKNU) had secured a presence in Brunei Bay, which was at that time in the Lawas District, which was then a part of the Fifth Division of Sarawak.[32] The TKNU at the time, Special Branch intelligence had reported, was being secretly funded by the government of Indonesia to remove the Sultan of Brunei from power.[33] As a precautionary measure, two sections of the Mobile Police Force were deployed to Sipitang, a city on the bay near the border with Sarawak.[32]

On 8 December, when the Brunei Revolt broke out in Brunei and Sarawak, a force of about 60 TKNU fighters rallied in Kampong Lubok, Sipitang. They were armed with shotguns, homemade bombs in cigarette tins, and parangs. They marched into Weston, at the mouth of the Padas River.[32]

When they got to Weston, they took the village constable's Greener riot gun (a single shot shotgun used for door breaching), several more shotguns, and then raised the TKNU flag over the town of Weston. The next day, they gathered more TKNU fighters and marched to Lingkungan, where they encountered a roving patrol of NBPF officers. They exchanged fire with the officers, and one of their number was killed, and retreated back to Kampong Lubok. Within the next few days, most of them surrendered to the NBPF, but 4 TKNU fighters crossed the border into Brunei. More fighters attempted to carry out attacks in the Sipitang District and Sindumin, but there were the two sections of the Mobile Force had already been deployed here, and were able to restore order within two days.[32]

The Mobile Police Force was an elite NBPF rapid-response unit deployed to combat insurgencies throughout Borneo. Here, they are seen unloading from their mission on Brunei on the tarmac of Jesselton Airport. On the right is DCP Plunkett, speaking to Mohd Yusof bin Din Mohamed, the commander of the Mobile Force.

When the news of the Brunei rebellion reached Far East Command, the Police Commissioner deployed a full platoon of the Mobile Police to Brunei, which was at that time attached to the Queen's Own Highlanders performing anti-piracy duties on the East Coast. Under the command of Mohd Yusof bin Din Mohamed, the platoon touched-down in Brunei just before noon on December 8.[32]

At Brunei, they moved to Kuching Airport, defending the airstrip and power station there from a wave of TKNU fighters who descended on them. For several hours, they held the airport and power station, until the arrival of troops from the Gurkha Contingent as their relief. One member of the Mobile Force, PC Bitti, lost his life at Kuching Airport.[32]

When the Constabulary was established in 1881, the standard-issue rifle for all troops was the Martini–Henry rifle. Also issued to platoon sized elements would be a Maxim gun.[2] During the Punitive Expeditions, the standard cannonry was the Seven-Pounder.[8] The indigenous tribal members of the Constabulary were also authorised use of their own traditional weaponry, including; blow darts, mandaus, jimpul, langgai tinggang, niabor, pakayun, dohong, pandat, parang latok, among other traditional weaponry.

In the early 20th century, the Martini-Henry was replaced by the Lee–Enfield.[2]

The first Commandant of the Constabulary was Arthur M. Harrington. He resigned in 1883 out of disgruntlement with his bosses and their lack of willingness to supply funds and personnel to the Constabulary. Arthur's brother was Charles H. Harrington, who later led the expedition that killed Mat Salleh.[35]

William Raffles Flint was the brother of Stamford Raffles, and for most of his early career a Postmaster of various post offices throughout East Asia. When A. M. de Fontaine was killed in action, Flint became the acting Commandant. He took up the post of acting Commandant twice to lead expeditions into the jungles of Borneo, but preferred to remain Sub-Commandant. He also took the Constabulary contingent to London for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1910, Flint tripped while walking down the stairs. As a result, several weeks later, he had to get his right leg amputated at the thigh, and his career in the Constabulary was over.[36] Little details are found after the amputation.

Note: Conflicting service dates below are derived from the source materials referenced:

Order	Image	Begin	End	Name
British North Borneo Company
1		1881[35]	1883[35]	Arthur Harington[37]
2		1883[35]	17 May 1885 †	A. M. de Fontaine[38]
–		17 May 1885	June 1885	William Raffles Flint[39]
		?	14 June 1886[40][41]	John Smith
–		March 1887	March 1887	William Raffles Flint[39]
?		1889[35]	1921[35]	Charles H. Harington
?		January 1887[42]	August 1889[43]	Richard D. Beeston
?		August 1889[43]	November 1896[44]	E. Algernon[45] Barnett
?		?	December 1896[46]	Charles H. Harington
?		February 1897[47]	1899[48][49]	John Murray Reddie
?		1896[50]	31 May 1926[50]	Charles H. Harington
?		1 June 1926[50]	15 April 1931[51]	H. S. Bond
?		?	16 May 1942[28]	Wilfrid Carne Adams
British Armed Forces
?		September 1942[26]	January 1943[26]	Alan Rice-Oxley[30]
?		January 1943[26]	2 March 1944 †	Lionel Matthews[9]
Crown Colony of North Borneo
?		?	?	John Bartholomew Atkinson[52][53]
?		?	1 December 1954[35]	Donald Matheson[54]
?		?	From RMPF, Sabah, 21 November 1965[35]	Roy Henry

19th Century Gazetted Officers
Commandant Captain	Sub-Commandant	Wing Officer	Adjutant

20th Century Gazetted Officers
Commissioner	Deputy Commissioner	Assistant Commissioner	Staff Officer	Deputy Inspector-General

	Other Officers
Warrant Officer	Superintendent	Assistant Superintendent	Chief Inspector	Inspector

Non-commissioned officers				Junior Enlisted
Sergeant Major	Sergeant	Corporal	Lance- Corporal	Constable	Rural Constable

The North Borneo Company hired mercenaries from another island to go head hunting in a quite literal sense. With respect to the Constabulary, these hunts were sanctioned and authorised military actions, sponsored for bounty against enemies of the state by the Constabulary.[22][55] Governor Treacher, upon writing the account of the official history of the colony's first ten years, wrote that that: "...we regard head-hunting as an amusement sanctioned by usage..."[56]These headhunters of Borneo, when hired into the Constabulary, were authorised to carry their swords with the human hair of their victims hanging off of their scabbards. The local tribes saw this as a point of pride and heritage, even carrying these swords in formation at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and at the Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra.[57] Despite many claims that the Dyaks were the predominate headhunters in the region, other tribes also celebrated the practice, including the Murut people.[58]