Humble Police Department: History of the Badge

The department badge, like the department emblem, it has evolved over the years as these series of photos will illustrate. The badge worn by Humble Officers today bears little resemblance to anything issued to officers in the past. The badge worn by Humble Officers today is a unique piece of copyrighted artwork; it remains unlike any other department badge issued by any other law enforcement agency.

2002 - Current

1995 - 2002

1981 - 1995

1971 - 1981

1965 - 1971

The police badge is a visual symbol to the public of the legal enforcement authority granted to every officer by the State of Texas and by the agency that employs them. The badge of the Humble Police Department is unique. The origin of the current department badge actually began during the early 1990’s with the former Mayor for the City of Humble, Dr. Hayden McKay. Mayor McKay had openly stated that he wished to do “something special” for the police department, but sadly Dr. McKay passed away from this life before he had decided on the “something special” for the police department. Then years later, in 2002, Chief of Police David Williams (himself a lifelong resident of Humble) chose to redesign the department badge. Chief Williams decided to create a very unique badge that no other agency had or would ever have. So he put together a committee of officers to look into a new badge design. The committee consisted of three patrol officers: Mark Bradshaw, Stan Kruljac, and Perry Burkeen. The final approval of the new design concept from the committee would belong to Chief Williams. Afterwards, he would seek the endorsement of the City Manager, Mayor, and Council before continuing with the project.

After examining various other police agencies’ badges, along with considerable study and sometimes debate, the committee ultimately chose to incorporate the Humble City Seal into the new badge design. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Lillian McKay (Mayor McKay’s wife also known as the “First Lady of Humble”) was informed by Chief Williams of the badge project and shown a draft of the new badge design. Mrs. McKay not only gave her personal approval, but she also volunteered to pay for this new badge on behalf of her late husband and long time Humble City Mayor.

The final design could be described in this manner: The general shape of the badge would be that of a “shield” which is somewhat of an oval shape. The background would have the “sun rays” prominently displayed in the background and contained within a wreath border. All of these elements would be silver in color. The badge would have a large gold-colored ribbon at the top which would contain the position of the officer wearing it such as Police Officer, Detective, Chaplain, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Assistant Chief, or Chief. The center of the badge would contain the Humble City Seal completed in a bronze finish. Below the city seal is the second gold in color ribbon. This ribbon contains the words “Humble Police” and just below that ribbon, is the third and final gold ribbon. This ribbon contains the officer’s badge number. In addition to this all wording, numbers are enameled onto the badge in a dark blue color.

At the recommendation of the design committee, the only alteration to the Humble City Seal was the removal of the City’s date of incorporation (1933) from the center of the “Lone Star”, and it was replaced with the State Seal of Texas which contains color elements of blue, gold, and red. It should be noted that the State Seal of Texas is a common and traditional design element on many badges worn by Texas law enforcement. The final design was given approval by City Manager James Baker along with Mayor Wilson Archer and unanimous approval by Humble City Council.

The committee chose to place the initial order with the Sun Badge Company which is located in Ontario, California. The original badge order was placed with Ben Dawson, on August 2, 2002 for seventy-five (75) badges. The initial cost per badge was discounted by 15% for this initial order, bringing the price down to $65.50 for each badge. The finished badges were received by the department on September 11, 2002. The total cost of this initial order came to $4,185.62.

The total bill was paid in full by Mrs. Lillian McKay on behalf of her late husband, former Mayor Dr. Hayden McKay. She stated that paying for these badges would be that final “something special” that Mayor McKay would get to do for the Humble Police Department, and sadly it would prove to be one of their final acts of generosity for the City that they both deeply loved.

These custom badges have been issued to, and proudly worn by, every Humble Police Officer since September 2002. The department continues to be grateful to Chief Williams and the badge committee for their efforts in designing a badge which is not only unique but is a beautiful piece of artwork. We wish to acknowledge our sincere gratitude to the remaining family of our former Mayor, the late Dr. Hayden McKay, and his late wife, Mrs. Lillian McKay, for providing the department with a unique custom designed badge that is destined to be a continuing tradition, and a part of the “brand” that will define this agency well into the future.

These custom designed badges will remain a proud and permanent symbol that is respected, admired, honored, and cherished by every Humble Officer. Each badge should serve as a reminder to every officer that they too are an integral part of the proud, but ongoing, history of the Humble Police Department and the City of Humble, Texas.

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