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For an NYPD officer, losing your shield is a major headache, leading to lots of annoying paperwork and a penalty that can cost up to 10 days’ pay. So it's an open secret that many officers keep their actual badge at a safe at home, and buy a fake "dupe" badge for everyday use. The Times has an interesting article on the practice, and gets a choice quote from former chief of department, Louis Anemone, who explains that many officers use dupes because they're afraid of losing their real badges at a bar: "You’re going to go get boxed on a Friday or Saturday night. You don’t want to say you lost your shield when you were out drinking, so you carry a dupe."
But losing the dupe can also be problematic, and an NYPD spokesman says approximately two dozen officers are disciplined each year for using duplicates, while only about a dozen are penalized for losing the real things. The use of fake badges violates department policy, and if someone turns in a lost dupe to the police, it can mean trouble for the officer who lost it. Still, the use of fake badges seems embedded in NYPD culture, and even former commissioner Bill Bratton carried a dupe, because he says the original gold and platinum Tiffany commissioner’s badge, first issued in 1901, "is a historical museum piece. It’s worth a small fortune. It’s not practical to carry it around."
Fake badges are easily bought on websites like this one (we have our hearts set on the Hawaii State Five-O Investigator for $110!) but there's a place in Chinatown currently popular with officers. Eliot Sash, an actor who made badges for the movies and television, said many of his best customers used to be NYPD officers. Sash was arrested several times for making and selling dupes, a felony, and quit the business after serving nearly four years in prison. He tells the Times, "I had friends in all the different precincts and they’d call me and I’d go down and meet them in the squad room. I’d just walk right in and they’d say, ‘There’s the badge man.’ Everyone knew me."
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Cops are out getting boxed? Is that while they're carrying their shillelagh?
He went to prison for four years but he was in tight with all those cops? wtf.
He was also "Eliot Sash" convicted on a state charge in connection with a false claim that his ex-wife had died in the 9/11 attacks, and he received a 1-to-3 year sentence. (The sentences were served concurrently.) Read full article
I support using a fake to avoid have 10 days of pay deducted. That's nonsense.
They're not fakes, they're copies. Makes sense to me, if they can lose up to 10 days pay if the badge gets lost I would carry around a copy as well. Its not like a "real" badge has any more authority than a "fake" copy of it.
that doesn't make sense. How is the public supposed to know if they are talking to a real officer and even if the officer is real then the information on his badge may be wrong. You can't report a fake badge number to internal affairs. Crawl out of NYPD's ass.
If you read the original nytimes article, rather than gothamist's summary, it's pretty clear that the common practice is for cops to carry dupes bearing their legitimate badge number. The only thing wrong w/ this that I can see is the illegality ... seems entirely justifiable. And as the article mentions, legal & common practice in other cities.
But any cop who carries a badge w/ a fake number oughta be in jail, and for a long time.
they are fakes because only NYPD can issue these badges not some counterfeiter in chinatown. Idiota
Meh for some reason I think if there was an epidemic of people getting fake badges and using them we would hear about it in the press. Same with a cop using fake badge numbers to try and avoid you reporting him for bad behavior.
If the Times came at this at an angle where there was some sort of public harm going on as a result it would be different.
you don't make the laws for NYPD and their internal policies states that no dups are allowed and there is a public safety issue involved. They are many things that are unreported by the papers. These are not copies but FAKES since only NYPD can issue badges. IDI....
You're right I don't make the law, thankfully I didn't say it was legal, just that I can see why a cop would carry a copy if losing his badge meant a big fine.
In terms of fake vs. copy, I won't argue semantics with someone who can barely type out a sentence in half of their posts :)
Then open a dictionary if you don't know the difference between fake and copy. You fail again.
Who can look at a badge that's several micrometers smaller and say it's a fake. If a crime has been committed and a substitute badge is shown, it is no less a crime and the perp should be apprehended. When the cop retires and turns in the real badge the criminals he apprehended are no less guilty.
Cops must follow the laws and their internal procedure prohibits dups. i would be arrested if I was driving around with a dup of my license. Why are cops held to a lesser degree when it fact they should be held to a higher degree since they are law enforcers.
The captain's shield in the photo on this page isn't a dupe; other than the basic shape it doesn't look at all like the real thing.
Badges?!?! We don't need no stinking badges...
they should go drinking with fake guns so when they go out and get boxed they wont lose their badge or shoot anyone either
And they say no one in America celebrates Boxing Day.
I had a duplicate driver's license made so that I wouldn't lose the original until a cop with a duplicate badge arrested me for possession of a forged instrument. Now I can't vote.
OK, so you need a real cop and a real cop shows up and helps you out. The whole time he was wearing a dupe shield. Now what? Would you like a do over? Get real, the cop has his/her original shield but it's back at the precinct or in a safe place at home. Without getting into the mechanics of a dupe shield, there are 3 ways to spot a fake, all three require that the person inspecting the shield hold it in his hand. On his/her chest, no way are you going to spot one. As far as being boxed goes; that's pretty narrow minded thinking. I guess no one on this thread has ever lost their wallet while being sober...
Cops should not be above the law.
Back when I had a Real New Jersey drivers license I got turned away at some lame bar, bouncer accused me of having a fake id. NJ license are not so fancy, when you are 21, they take your photo w your head turned to the side. That is how they differentiate...
He was also "Eliot Sash" convicted on a state charge in connection with a false claim that his ex-wife had died in the 9/11 attacks, and he received a 1-to-3 year sentence. (The sentences were served concurrently.) Read full article