The Fraternal Order of Police plate is a membership plate in the strict sense: state law limits it to active members in good standing, requires proof at the first application, and orders the plate removed when that membership ends. It is also one of two Fraternal Order of Police designs in the South Carolina catalogue, and the other one is open to any driver. Confusing them is the most typical mistake. The distinction matters at the counter, where a clerk will ask for a lodge card for one design and nothing more than a signature for the other.
The plate carries a thirty-dollar special fee every two years, with the money going to the State Lodge for the families of officers killed in the line of duty. The rules around it are unusually explicit, including a criminal penalty for keeping the plate after leaving the organization. The sections below describe who qualifies, how to order and what the department expects at renewal.
Who Qualifies for the FOP Plate
The statute names the qualifying group precisely: owners of private passenger motor vehicles and motorcycles registered in their names who are active members in good standing with the Fraternal Order of Police. Each part of that sentence does work. A retired officer who has let a lodge membership lapse does not qualify on the basis of former service alone.
Active Members in Good Standing
Good standing is the phrase the statute uses, and it points to dues and lodge status rather than to rank or employment. A member who has transferred lodges should confirm that the new lodge has recorded the transfer. The branch does not adjudicate membership disputes, because it relies on the identification the applicant presents.
Proof at the First Application
Identification of current membership must be presented when the plate is first requested. That is a statutory requirement rather than a branch preference, so an application without it is incomplete. A renewal does not repeat the check in the same way, though the underlying eligibility still has to hold while the plate is displayed. The document should be current on the day the packet is mailed, not merely on the day the member joined.
Lodge Membership Cards
A current lodge card is the most direct evidence, and a letter from the lodge can serve when a card is not available. The card should show a date that has not passed. The South Carolina license plate home page covers the wider picture. A member who has just joined should wait for the card rather than submit an application with a pending number. The lodge office can confirm what it issues as proof when a card is lost.
Retired Officers and Former Members
Retirement from a department does not by itself end eligibility, and it does not by itself preserve it. The test is membership in good standing, so a retired officer who keeps a lodge card can still order the plate, while a serving officer who has let dues lapse cannot. The statute speaks of members rather than job titles, and the branch follows the document rather than the career history.
Cars and Motorcycles
The statute covers private passenger motor vehicles and motorcycles, which makes this one of the designs a rider can order. The vehicle must be registered in the member’s name, and the plate class has to match the vehicle type. A member who wants the design on both a car and a bike needs two applications and two fees.
The FOP Plate and Back the Badge
South Carolina lists two police designs associated with the Fraternal Order of Police, and they are not interchangeable. One is restricted to members and sends its share to the State Lodge. The other is open to any resident and supports law enforcement more broadly. The table sets out the differences before the sections describe them.
| Design | Who may order | Extra amount, two years | Where the share goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraternal Order of Police | Active members in good standing, with proof | $30 | State Lodge, for families of officers killed in the line of duty |
| Back the Badge | Any South Carolina resident | $40 | Fraternal Order of Police work supporting law enforcement |
Reading the Catalogue Correctly
The two entries are easy to tell apart once the plate class is visible. The department lists the membership design as class LE1 and describes it as available to active members. Back the Badge appears separately with its own class and an open eligibility note. A driver who reads only the design name on a search result can miss the membership line entirely.
Different Eligibility
The Fraternal Order of Police plate requires active membership and proof at the first application. Back the Badge has no membership test and is available to any South Carolina resident who pays the amount. A driver who supports the police but has never joined a lodge can order Back the Badge without paperwork beyond the standard application.
Different Amount
The membership plate carries thirty dollars every two years, while Back the Badge carries forty dollars. Both sit on top of the same registration charge. A member comparing the two should remember that the membership plate also requires dues, so the plate fee alone understates the cost of keeping it on the car.
Different Design Purpose
The statute sends the membership plate’s share to the State Lodge for the families of officers killed in the line of duty. A separate page describes the law enforcement plate. The department describes Back the Badge as showing support for law enforcement without naming a fund. The two purposes can overlap in spirit, but only one has a statutory beneficiary written into law.
Choosing Between Them
A member in good standing should use the membership plate if the State Lodge fund is the point. A nonmember, or a member who wants the simpler order, should use Back the Badge. A driver who qualifies for both can display only one plate per vehicle, so the choice is about the beneficiary rather than about the artwork. The faces differ, but design preference is the weaker reason to pick one over the other.
Where the Thirty Dollars Goes
The statute separates the registration from the special fee and directs each to a different place. The regular motor vehicle fee goes into the State Highway Fund. The remaining thirty dollars goes to the State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, with a purpose stated in the law rather than left to the organization.
The State Lodge
The State Lodge is the recipient named in the statute, not a local lodge and not a national office. That matters to a member who belongs to a chapter in one city, because the contribution is pooled at the state level. The lodge decides how the fund is administered within the purpose the law sets. Its own publications are the better source for current use, since the statute names only the purpose.
The Highway Fund Line
The regular motor vehicle fee does not stay with the plate program. The Comptroller General places it into the State Highway Fund, where it is distributed under the same formula used for other registrations. The firefighters license plate is described on its own page. Only the thirty-dollar special fee is left for the lodge. That separation is why the plate cannot be described as sending the whole seventy dollars to the organization.
Families of Fallen Officers
The stated use is support for the families of officers killed in the line of duty. The statute does not describe the forms that support takes, and it does not set an application process for families. A reader should treat the phrase as the legal purpose of the fund rather than as a published benefit schedule.
What the Statute Does Not Say
Nothing in the section creates a scholarship, a grant program or a public donation channel. It also does not require the lodge to report individual payments. A donor who wants a receipt, or who wants a specific family to benefit, should deal with the organization directly rather than assume the plate produces that result. That gap leaves the lodge room to decide how support is delivered without returning to the legislature.
The Production Threshold
The design is subject to the same production floor as other specialty plates. The department wants either four hundred applications paid in advance or a four thousand dollar deposit before it prints, along with an approved marketing plan. If biennial applications and renewals fall below three hundred, the department stops producing new stock and issues what remains.
Ordering the Plate
The membership plate is ordered by mail rather than through the online store, because the application has to carry proof of membership. The site also describes the specialty license plate. That makes the packet the critical object: form, card and payment have to travel together. A missing document turns a short order into a correspondence problem.
Form MV-95 by Mail
Form MV-95 is the specialty application, and the Fraternal Order of Police appears on its proof-of-membership list. The member writes the design in the request field, completes the vehicle and insurance sections, and signs. The completed form travels to the department’s specialty unit with the membership document and the fee.
What the Form’s Proof List Means
Form MV-95 groups the Fraternal Order of Police with the designs that require proof of membership or certification. The grouping is a signal rather than a rule change, because the statute already requires the identification. A member who sees the plate listed in that section should treat the lodge card as part of the application, not as an optional attachment.
A Branch Visit
A branch can accept the same packet and check the vehicle record at the counter, which catches an address or title problem before mailing. The clerk can also confirm that the plate class matches the vehicle. The branch does not waive the membership proof, because that requirement comes from the statute.
What the Envelope Needs
The envelope should contain the signed form, a copy of the current membership identification, the payment for the plate and registration, and a note of the vehicle’s plate number. Keeping a copy of the whole packet is sensible. A mailed application has no counter receipt to fall back on if a document goes missing. A payment made out to the wrong payee will slow the packet, so the form’s instructions are worth reading twice.
Waiting for Production
Production begins once the application clears, so the clock starts at approval rather than at the postmark. The vehicle remains registered while the order is in progress, and the existing plate stays valid until the new one arrives. A member who has already returned a plate should ask about a temporary tag. Anyone who needs the car daily should keep the old plate on until the new one arrives rather than surrender it early.
Renewing, Transferring and Surrendering
This plate has an ending that most specialty designs do not. The statute requires a former member to remove it at renewal, and it attaches a penalty to keeping it. The renewal, transfer and surrender rules therefore deserve more attention than the ordering stages.
The Biennial Renewal
The plate is issued or revalidated for twenty-four months and expires in the month it was issued. The thirty-dollar fee returns with each renewal, along with the registration charge. A member who renews on time keeps the same plate number unless the design or the vehicle class changes. The expiration month follows the issue month, so a plate ordered in spring renews in spring two years later.
If Membership Lapses
A member who is no longer in good standing must remove the plate on the date the registration is due for renewal and obtain another valid plate. The obligation is tied to the renewal date rather than to the day dues stopped. A member who expects a lapse should plan the switch before that date arrives. The replacement does not have to be a specialty design, because a standard plate also ends the obligation.
Moving It to Another Vehicle
The design may be carried over to a second vehicle of the same class owned by the same member, with the remaining registration credit attached. A straight transfer inside the same cycle does not repeat the thirty-dollar charge. A member who sells the old car without moving the plate loses the design and may have to supply the membership proof again. The membership requirement still applies, so a transfer does not create a way around it.
Returning the Plate
A surrendered plate goes back to the department rather than into a drawer. The statute makes knowing failure to surrender a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to one hundred dollars or thirty days in jail, or both. Returning the metal and completing a standard registration at the same visit closes the record properly.
Typical Mistakes
The errors on this plate cluster around proof and status. Members send an application without the card, order the wrong police design, or keep the plate after the lodge relationship ends. Each one is avoidable with a check before the form goes out.
Ordering Without Proof
An application without current membership identification cannot satisfy the statutory requirement, even if the applicant is a member. The specialty unit has no way to verify the claim on its own. Copying the card before sealing the envelope is the simplest guard against a returned packet. A returned packet usually costs a mail cycle in each direction, which is longer than the time needed to copy a card.
Confusing the Two Designs
Back the Badge and the Fraternal Order of Police plate both carry police imagery and both appear in the same catalogue. Only the membership plate requires a lodge card, and only the membership plate sends its share to the State Lodge fund. A driver who orders the wrong one may not notice the difference until the plate arrives.
Assuming a Local Lodge Can Issue It
A lodge can confirm membership, but it cannot print or issue a registration plate. The application still goes to the department or to a branch, and the plate is produced by the state. A member who waits for the lodge to send a plate will wait indefinitely. The lodge supplies the proof, while the department supplies the metal.
Letting the Card Expire
A card that expires between ordering and renewal can put the member out of good standing without any change in employment. The lodge is the only party that can confirm the status. A reminder set before the card’s date avoids a renewal conversation that starts with a lapsed record.
Keeping It After Leaving the Lodge
This is the mistake with legal consequences. The statute requires removal at the renewal date and describes a criminal penalty for knowingly failing to surrender. A former member who wants to keep the design on the car should move to Back the Badge instead of holding a plate tied to a membership that has ended.
Official SCDMV Sources
The eligibility rule, the amount and the order route come from the department’s catalogue and specialty application. The surrender requirement and the State Lodge distribution come from the code section that created the plate. Last verified: October of this year.
- SCDMV Plate Galleryhttps://dmv.sc.gov/vehicle-owners/registration/plate-gallery
- SCDMV Specialty Plate Application (MV-95)https://dmv.sc.gov/sites/scdmv/files/2026-10/MV-95%20Application%20for%20Specialty%20License%20Plates%20%2806_2026%29.pdf
- SCDMV Feeshttps://dmv.sc.gov/fees
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions below cover membership, the amount, the difference from Back the Badge and what happens when a lodge relationship ends.
Who can get the Fraternal Order of Police plate?
Only active members in good standing with the Fraternal Order of Police, for a private passenger vehicle or motorcycle registered in their name. Current membership identification must be presented with the first application. Former service or general support for law enforcement does not satisfy the requirement without an active membership.
How much does the FOP plate cost?
The special fee is thirty dollars every two years in addition to the regular registration. A passenger car normally pays forty dollars for registration, so a first order comes to seventy dollars. Motorcycles and trucks carry different registration amounts, but the thirty-dollar plate fee stays the same.
What is the difference between the FOP plate and Back the Badge?
The Fraternal Order of Police plate requires active membership, costs thirty dollars and sends its share to the State Lodge for families of officers killed in the line of duty. Back the Badge is open to any resident, costs forty dollars and supports law enforcement work without a membership requirement.
What happens if I stop being a member?
The plate must come off on the date the registration is due for renewal, and another plate must replace it. The statute makes knowing failure to surrender a misdemeanor, with a fine or jail possible. A former member can move to Back the Badge instead of keeping the membership plate.
Can I put the FOP plate on a motorcycle?
Yes. The statute covers motorcycles as well as private passenger vehicles, provided the bike is registered in the member’s name and the plate class matches. A member who wants the design on both a car and a motorcycle must submit a separate application and pay the fee for each.