Frequently called a unit crest or DUI for short, the 102nd Military Police Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved on 2 February 2010. Its contrast of black and yellow in the insignia emphasizes the night-and-day, round-the-clock mission of Military Police units, while the fasces on the left is a common image in Military Police insignias that alludes to law enforcement and the key on the right is a symbol of security; both come from the Military Police regimental distinctive insignia.
In the center is a silhouette of the statue of colonial soldier Copper John that famously stands watch at the top of the entrance to the Auburn Correctional Facility in New York. Above the statue are green battlements adorned with five mullets; the battlements represent both strength and defense as concepts as well as the walls of the Correctional Facility. The mullets, or stars, stand for the five main Military Police operations: Area Security, Internment and Resettlement, Law and Order, Maneuver and Mobility Support, and Police Intelligence. "Serving State And Country" is the unit motto that encapsulates the dual-hatted nature of National Guard units.
Distinctive Unit Insignias is worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. It is worn centered on the shoulder loops of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU) and the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU, Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1, Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e), "Beret" and "Garrison Cap," respectively.
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The 102nd Military Police Battalion is a New York Army National Guard unit that was originally constituted on 21 March 1898 as the 16th Battalion. It was reorganized and redesignated three times before it was deployed to France during World War I as the1st Battalion, 1st Pioneer Infantry. The Battalion as a whole was credited with serving in three campaigns, but its HQ Detachment was individually awarded three more streamers (Somme Offensive, Ypres-Lys, and Flanders 1918).
During World War II, the Battalion was designated as the 3rd Battalion, 106th Infantry Regiment, an element of the 27th Infantry Division, and fought in three Asiatic-Pacific Theater campaigns—but somehow its HQ and HQ Detachment fought in five campaigns in the European Theater and earned a Belgian Fourragere 1940 for citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army noting their outstanding performance in actions at the Siegfried Line and Elsenborn Crest. (Note: The HHD earned the Fourragere while attached to the 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.)
Following World War II, the Battalion spent six years designated as an Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion (1947-1953) and six years as an Armored Cavalry Battalion (1953-1959) before finally being redesignated as the 102nd Military Police Battalion. It still retains that designation five years later as part of the New York Army National Guard, where it reports to the 53rd Troop Command and has three Military Police Companies as subordinate units. It is headquartered in Auburn, New York.