St. Louis Police Chief Wears $5,900 Badge

Unbelievable. If the chief wants to wear a thousand dollar badge, then that's his prerogative. But the money should be coming out of his pocket, not the taxpayers.

What the hell? I suppose he drives a mercedes for a take home car and employs illegal immigrants to clean his house too. His last job must have been with the feds or maybe AIG.

AND WE'RE IN AN ECONOMIC RECESSION???!!! BS, aparently it doesn't exist in St Louis.

Wonders never cease. This guy sounds like a pimp, rather than a police chief. He probably wears an engraved, nickle plated, ivory handled pistol in a hand tooled rig. His officers are wearing standard equipment while he struts his "bling". Go figure.

Who gives a *censored* what the shield is made out of. It is what it represents that means something. That chief is a real *censored*ing mutt.

This Chief should be fired and any elected official that permits this should be impeached. I sure hope the officers have the equipment they need to do their jobs, such as AR15s, tasers, etc.

The story says the new chief has put an end to the practice and it sounds like someone ordered the badges prior to his appointment. However, I think I would rather see the supply division person that ordered them charged with misappropriation or at least refuse the order and take the lawsuit from the jewler. That would give a much better rep to the new chief than simply saying, ok I'll take my new gold badge but this is the last one..

Classic example of management out of control. The cops that actually do the Police work get cheap crap and the friggin moron chief city jewelry. There is no reason a chief's badge should cost any more than the difference in the finish between the silver Officer's badge and the gold plate of the supervisor's, usually less than $20.00 more. It is no wonder that the longer I stay Police work, the less respect I have for the bosses.

It's no wonder there isn't any respect for law enforcement anymore. With all the things bad cops do and now you have a chief that spends that kind of money on badges? I think the the elected officals should pull the badges and have them sold for the gold in them and put the money back in the city funds.

LS Jones, as for your feelings, I agree 100% with you. It's hard to respect that type of leader.

My only question is, "What other items are needlessly eating up the budget?" If your arrogance allows you to waste that much money on a badge, you obviously have no business approving any type of budget item.