Badges of honor are designed by Warren deputy
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Where they’ve been, who they know, what they do — all are questions that can be answered by the presence of the patches on their uniforms.
Those are the ideas Warren County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Jesse Reid keeps in mind when designing patches for various units of police. The 32-year veteran police officer and former police chief of Minor Hill, Tenn., started collecting patches and eventually found himself designing them with the help of a computer and a friend. Today, some of his patches are worn locally.
His first patch design was for a mounted patrol unit in Lake County, Fla., where Reid worked for more than 14 years. It was used from 1988 to 1996. Other patches he designed in the early ’90s are still in use there today.
Locally, the emergency response teams of the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and McMinnville Police Department, which are sometimes referred to as SWAT teams, use a patch he designed about two years ago.
The county’s K-9 officer uses his design as well. Reid has also designed a prototype for the city police’s K-9 unit, but it is not in use at this time.
The process usually starts at the request of a fellow officer who may work in a specialized unit within a department.
“Normally, one of the officers will contact me wanting to know if I’ll design something,” Reid said. “I’ll go ahead and do the design up and get a finished product and submit it to the department.”
Reid designs the initial concept for the patch, then sends it to a friend who uses a computer to touch it up. The patch design is sent to a company in California for production. From there, it’s up to the local sheriff or police chief to decide if the patch is to be worn.
Patches make statements about the historical, social or even political happenings of the time. Some change over time along with the changes taking place in the particular town, county or state.
Reid said officers can become attached to their patches and many prefer they don’t change. Some officers, upon passing, may even be buried in full uniform along with their patches, he said.
His personal concept for a good patch is that it should make a historical statement about the place an officer is sworn to protect or reflect the area in some other way. He said patches may be viewed as a source of departmental pride or can even serve as a conversation tool among officers from different areas.
His design work flows out of an acquired love of patches, developed as the result of a lengthy career in law enforcement. “They kind of tell a story,” he said of the patches, indicating that when one of his designs is chosen, it’s an added bonus to his hobby. “It’s nice when someone appreciates your design.”