Father's Day gift

[speagle]

Interesting "little" badge

[Mervyn Mitton]

Hi Ed   -  your Family spoil you !     I think it says Dept. of Corrections  -  any idea which area ?    Mervyn

[speagle]

It does Mervyn. It is from the state of Alaska. If you look closely at the seal in the middle you can read that.

[Mike McLellan]

Hi Speagle. I stumbled upon this post this morning. I spent 25 years with the Alaska Department of Corrections. All of it at the Fairbanks Correctional Center. Your badge is a lapel pin / tie clasp that was modeled on the badges that were in use in  the 1990s. I dug mine out of the sock drawer for a photo. It was meant to be worn on the belt rather than worn on the breast. I retired in 2001. Around 2005, the department issued new badges to all the officers. I don't have a photo of the new ones, but they are grey with black lettering. Kind of subdued, but quite ugly (my opinion of coarse).

[speagle]

Thanks for the info. I was surprised to read that it is a lapel pin. After I read your response, I checked the back and saw that it had a single post at the top. Interesting. Don't suppose you'd be interested in "losing" the badge and holder pictured above?  :-)

Thanks again my friend.

Ed

[Mike McLellan]

Hi Ed. Sorry. My daughter has called first dibs on my old badge. I do have a couple of earlier examples. First is the hat badge. In all the years I worked at the Fairbanks Correctional Center, I only remember one occasion where an officer wore a hat that this badge adorned. Most often, staff either owed a baseball-type cap or nothing. The official hat was a gray deputy style. Most people thought it was dorky. I'm not sure if this badge is still authorized. 

The next two are breast badges that were worn on the belt in the late 1970s or early 1980s. They were not issued by the Department of Corrections, but issued by the Superintendent at F.C.C. They were withdrawn after an overzealous correctional officer felt the urge to flash his badge at a female driver that he wanted to "pull over" on the highway. He was not charged with impersonating a police officer, despite that fact that COs have NO authority beyond the perimeter fence. But, he caused the superintendent a bit of embarrassment. Since then, they have been used to adorn plaques given to retiring officers. One is in pretty good shape and the other has pretty much all of it's lacquer worn off. 

[speagle]

Thanks for sharing Mike. I don't buy or sell, just trade so---should you ever want to talk about some trading, please let me know.

Have a very Merry Christmas.

Ed