Brooklyn Park Police Unveil New Badges
The Brooklyn Park Police Department has debuted new badges that feature a design emblematic of the city its officers serve.
Officers’ badges have gone through different phases. The first one debuted with the formation of the police department in the 1950s. The second — and most recent one– featured the old state seal. That one was in rotation for about 50 years.
Lt. Seth Wilson said the newest badge is a product of a department committee and inspired by the history of Brooklyn Park.
“It’s something that we strive to represent and represent with the utmost integrity,” Wilson said.
Design features include farmland, the iconic barn on 85th Avenue, the Coon Rapids Dam beyond Mississippi Gateway Regional Park, and trees for the city’s Tree City USA status. It also has the shape of Minnesota in the middle with the north star.
Lt. Wilson shows the new badges issued to Brooklyn Park police officers. The company Smith and Warren used BPPD’s ideas to put together the badge.
Maaruf Yusuf, a longtime resident of Brooklyn Park, is on the police department’s multicultural advisory team.
“It’s very important to know about the cultures, how they look at the police, what they think about the police. All this makes for the police department to be connected to the community and hear what the community is saying,” Yusuf said.
He said the committee got to see the badges as a group and he immediately noticed the familiar landmarks.
“This is very different, and very nice,” Yusuf said. “It’s connected. It’s Brooklyn Park’s own badge.”
The new badges were paid for with donations to the police department.
The two previous BPPD badges.
