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Looking for some input on a good badge wallet. Right now, I carry a small wallet in my front pocket with DL, cash, and cards. In my duty cargo pocket I carry my badge and electronic police ID. I'd like to combine these items into one wallet that isn't too bulky. Here is what I'd like it to carry:
Metal Police Badge
DL & Police ID
5 or so cards
A little cash
Any recommendations?
Thanks!
My advice would be to keep them separate. This is just one incident of many I'm aware of;
https://www.odmp.org/officer/14952-d...ne-daniel-york
I've always done so for the same reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by TC215
I always keep them separate. When at work, my personal wallet stays in my locker. I don’t want to lose my personal wallet while at work that has a drivers license with my home address on it. I also keep credit cards in the personal wallet.
I keep some cash in the work wallet/badge case. But then I’m old enough that I still use cash at times to buy lunch.
There's a bunch on Amazon, figure out which type you want, bifold, tri, high grain leather, etc. Then contact to see if they have your badge shape.
Otherwise get a custom one done just for you.
Put me down for separate carry as well. I've got a small wallet with DL, CCs and cash in my front pocket, and my credentials with primary badge in the back pocket. Every time I've seen someone with combined creds/badge and personal wallet, it turns into a Costanza wallet...
Always separate.
pat
That's what I do too, plus I don't have to sit on the wallet for hours every day.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat Trash
I've always carried a separate badge wallet with the LE ID, one or two business cards and a laminated Miranda warning card. I very much like the newer design that has a separate pocket for a light weight neck chain so you can be hands free if need be. I keep the unmarked proximity card that gives access to our facilities in the card case that I use as a personal "billfold" so that if (The Horror!) I ever lost my badge wallet someone couldn't just walk in the back door.
Very curious as to what your electronic police ID is. A prox card or something new and different?Quote:
Originally Posted by CWE
Thanks for all the input. Sounds like some good reasons to keep it separate, so I will continue to do that for now. I looked at the available options and everything looks too bulky for what I want anyways.
Question - do you guys carry your badge when your off duty?
It's just a proximity card, electronic was a poor word to use.Quote:
Originally Posted by FNFAN
I used to. Had one of those combination badge and credential cases that the feds used to issue us, and ones that I purchased which were similar in concept.
These days I only have to carry retired creds in a much thinner package. Behind the creds I have my state ccw license, LEOSA card, and two cards for prepaid legal representation should I find myself in need.
Good on you for keeping them separate. I'm glad I've never used a combo wallet as the back issues we all get have become worse with age. I've also watched off duty cops and FFs open one of those behemoth combo wallets. No matter how it's designed, they ALWAYS flash their badge.
My badge wallet has business cards, flat badge, ID and an emergency $20. I carry a business card-sized wallet with my personal stuff in it in my front cargo pocket off duty. It stays in my locker while working.
I'm required, when armed, to carry my badge. I have a flat bade I carry in a credential case along with my id (which is also a proximity card). Or I have a clip on badge holder for a pin-on badge that have clipped to my belt. If I'm not showing my badge, I carry it on the inside of belt, with the clip on the outside. This is pretty convenient.Quote:
Originally Posted by CWE
Quote:
Originally Posted by CWE
Cool! I figured maybe "There's an app for that" ;)
I carried separate cases for many years, until the resulting lack of pocket space compelled me to combine them. For a while now I've been using a leather wallet molded for my badge, plus an added cheapo wallet insert with a bunch of slots for non-cop stuff. (DL, credit/insurance cards, etc. I buy bundles of these on Amazon, because they wear out in less than a year.) This forces me to limit what I stuff in my wallet, so it doesn't go full Costanza... :D
Never had a reason to carry one off duty. Just keep my police ID in the back of my wallet. IMO the badge doesn't really do anything for me other than look like a cracker jack prize. All of they good info is on my ID. Plus there's a number on the back where someone could actually verify my employment 24hrs a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by CWE
Quote:
Originally Posted by andre3k
I think most people who carry their badge only do it because it's policy. Not a policy I agree with, but a lot of people have to live under those.
I am another vote for always separate. That means badge as well as photo ID. Badge is carried on a leather belt clip/neck hanger thingy that is made specifically for the purpose. Creds are in the classic Fed style bi-fold case with a flat badge on the back fold. The badge is carried on person when out and about in a place in which I may have occasion to do cop things (court, training, etc.) Creds are usually locked up unless I'm carrying under LEOSA.
Same here... I’ve heard mixed bags with badge/credentials on duty. One person says leaving in truck is fine (we work at a Port of Entry, so not too far away). Another says they have to be on you at all times. Just leave my wallet in my cargo pocket. Always on me if I’m off duty... as I’m always carrying.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheNewbie
I use the Federal one from Badge & Wallet, due to our credential size. I do have one of those plastic carriers for cards, but going to pull them out and consolidate.
Another vote for always separate. Badge ID and LEOSA in one and money cards license etc. in my regular wallet. I also keep my state CCW card in my regular wallet so that I always have it or my LEOSA on me.
Yes. And I carry a belt mounted clip-on holder next to my gun, not a wallet badge. If my gun is concealed, so is my badge. If my gun is exposed, so is my badge. Badges still carry some cultural cache that ID cards don't, and it's just one more way to help identify who I am if shit goes sideways while I'm off duty. A badge in the hand reduces (not eliminates, reduces) your odds of being targeted in a blue on blue while you are in plain clothes. A badge on a neck chain is next best. A belt mounted is next best. I can't recall the original source of the study, but I know that numbers of holes in realistic targets in a shoot house roughly confirmed it. A real metal badge with some shine to it center mass or in the hands (both where we are trained to look) kept a lot of holes off the target vs the belt mount guy.Quote:
Originally Posted by CWE
That was Kansas City, Missouri PD. I use that study in all the “plainclothes survival” classes I do.Quote:
Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's
https://www.bluesheepdog.com/2013/03...acement-study/
This...Quote:
Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's
And when I get a new badge from my agency that says "retired", I'm going to carry that one. Yep, the badge can be a pain in the ass to carry, but so is your gun -- and they go very well together.
I always carry my creds on duty. The some of the courthouse security guards with still want to see them even though I’m in full uniform. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Screwball
I’m like dude, take a peep outside at the cool looking squad I came in, but I guess I’m at there house, I’ll let them have there power trip. Lol.
I keep my badge/credential wallet and my personal wallet separate for all the reasons already listed. I’m required by policy to carry a badge and credentials when carrying my agency issued or approved firearm. Since I only carry my personally owned/agency approved G19 or G26 both on and off duty, I have to carry badge and creds off duty. We’re issued two badges. One is a small, flat wallet badge that goes in the credential case. The other is the traditional belt/neck badge. I do not generally carry the belt badge off duty since I have my cred case which has the flat badge in it. I’m not dead set on this for the reasons BBI posted regarding the KCPD study. If I have to get involved in something off duty that would put a gun in my hand, it might be better to be able to also throw the badge around my neck. I always carry the belt badge on duty, in addition to the cred case badge, for if I have to participate in an enforcement action which would involve exposing my holstered gun.
Working plainclothes, center chest badge by necklace is best. Easiest way not to get shot - just have to remember to show it off. Also holding a radio helps, every LEO knows what a radio looks like. Plainclothes duty wallet doesn't have any police info at all.
Off duty? A single wallet with badge and ID. No issues there. We have a name for the type of guy who wears a necklace badge around off duty....
We had a guy that had a badge and chain tattooed on his chest and neck, WHILE he was working in a drug task force. He’s since left LE.Quote:
Originally Posted by voodoo_man
Wow...Quote:
Originally Posted by BobM
Just Wow...
https://i.redd.it/txvxg59ppbiy.pngQuote:
Originally Posted by BobM
I've carried this one for almost 15 years:
https://store.strongbadgecase.com/de...n-badge-wallet
It feels really thick when you first set it up. My Ed Jones flat badge is fairly thin and the wallet and badge have basically bent to each other's shapes over time and it's now pretty thin.
I'm not badging everyone when I bust my wallet out, but creds are easy to get to when needed.
I'm required by policy to carry a badge if I carry a gun, a policy I agree with. Around here I want something making me more identifiable if I have to break a gun out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobM
I would like to have a 15 minute conversation with that guy. Just to understand the person behind the act.
There was a Chief of a Department in the county where I work that had the dept initials, ala XXPD along with a design, tattooed on his back like a tramp stamp. As fate would have it, he had to leave LE after being convicted of a crime for a short stint in prison.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobM
Ouch!Quote:
Originally Posted by mark7
That's gonna leave a mark.....Quote:
Originally Posted by mark7
I'm sure he was drawn to a life of crime. ;-)
I believe strongly in keeping things separated:
1. Police ID, health insurance card, and driver’s license together, in one slim holder, often on a neck chain.
2. Credit cards, one or two C-notes, and an expired driver’s license in another slim wallet.
3. Additional cash, and perhaps another CC or two, in a separate thin wallet, on occasion.
4. Badge, usually NOT carried while out and about, largely because it looked so cheap, and my official ID looked much more official, on its own. When it suited me, on rare occasions, I put the badge on its own leather holder, on a neck chain.
Much of the time, I only carried #1 and #2, above.
A big “amen” to those who have said an official radio is a better off-the-clock badge of office, than a badge. Now, in retirement, I wish I could get a ruggedized mobile phone that looks VERY MUCH like the Motorola radio I had been issued, by the PD’s radio shop.