This past week, Q-line asked: Do you think that SMPD should go ahead with the new badge plan or is it a case of mismanaged funds?
Here are your responses: “SPENDING $50,000 ON NEWLY designed police badges is ridiculous in the extreme. If the police want an extra $50,000 let them use it to clean up the accelerating crime in this town. Patrol the parks more carefully where drug dealing and use is worse than ever. You’d have to be blind to miss it.”
“WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ BADGES. I have always wanted to say that. It is a line from a Humphrey Bogart movie, “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” Look, you have a bloated 1/2 billion budget of which at least $100 million is of very questionable spending. The Abe Lincolns on the City Council are trying to impress us with worrying about $50,000. Take the 1983 shell badge with its art deco appearance and add an image of Santa Monica Bay with happy dolphins jumping for joy and an all-seeing eye at the top to remind us of the Freemasons plan plus a phrase written in Latin. How about “All Along the Watchtower.” Great song, but isn’t that what police do in protecting us from the filth in the world? Thank you, City Council, for all that you haven’t done for us.”
“I APPROVE OF THE PURCHASE OF THE new badges and trust that the construction of these new badges will be sculptured from the finest bullet-proof titanium steel. Police officers wear their badges over their hearts to protect them from a pointblank bullet shot. The police badge has saved many police officers over the years.”
“WE HAVE A CITY LOGO WITH THE SUN and sea on it, why not put that on the badges? Or even more appropriate a homeless bum urinating or a landlord holding empty pockets or a hammer and sickle or a dollar sign with wings showing how our money is squandered.”
“JUST LIKE WITH THE TREES, THE IDIOTS want to waste money replacing something that doesn’t need replacing. If they want to replace them they should redesign them to include a couple of drunks with stolen shopping carts loaded with a bunch of junk. That would represent Santa Monica more than anything else.”
“HAVE THEY LOST THEIR MINDS? WHO gives a hoot. They are nuts. I think the City Council has totally lost it.”
THINK IT IS ABSOLUTELY LUDICROUS to spend $50,000 for a new badge. Now that I know who it comes from, it just figures. I cannot stand Councilman Ken Genser, he’s an awful individual. He has done nothing to better the City of Santa Monica. Why not spend the money on schools?”
“I DISAGREE WITH IT FULLY. A PIECE OF metal does catch criminals. I don’t think it is necessary for anybody. Please, keep the badges, they work just fine. You guys are doing a great job, just keep it up.”
“THE POLICE BADGES SHOULD STAY THE same. What a ridiculous expense. Who cares what the building is that is a microscopic drawing in the center and bottom. Nobody gives a flying mosquito’s ass what drawing is on the badge. Don’t we have something more important to talk about? When you see a police man’s badge, that is all you need to know. Nobody cares about a tiny little drawing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“HAVING CITY HALL’S IMAGE IS SUCH a non-issue. My message to Councilman Genser is to get a life and stop obsessing on symbols and police badges.”
“I DON’T THINK SMPD SHOULD SPEND the money on new badges. They were redesigned in 2003. Don’t tell me that the badges have been tarnished already.”
“INSTEAD OF SPENDING MONEY ON THE badges, they could hire more police. Forget the badges and hire more police.”
“GOLLY, CITY OFFICIALS SPENDING $50,000 on the police means they will spend $50,000 less on bums and transients. That’s a good thing.”
“I THINK THE POLICE BADGES SHOULD be changed. Yes it is a lot of money so the city council should do it as economically as possible. It is a change that should be made.”
“I THINK THE IDEA OF CHANGING THE police badge to reflect the iconic landmark city hall and the symbol of our city government is certainly worth the money.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 23, 2007. Read the original PDF.