More from the OpEd...

... Union Executive Director Andrew Matthews said the union gives donors "the badge out of our generosity."

Law enforcement badges should not be gifts. They signal the presence and authority of a police officers. Providing them to police donors is a prescription for trouble. They represent power and they can misrepresent power in the wrong hands.

The brass badge says "trustee" above "Connecticut" over the state seal. under the seal are the words "state police union." All the lettering is in blue capital letters.

The identification card includes the name Connecticut State Police Union, the state seal, a member number, the member's name, the year the card is issued, and a photograph of the badge. ...

@#2

Wow.

From that article cited ...

... Big controversy in tiny village: Why so many reserve cops?

An NFL player from Florida, a casino developer, a one-time candidate for Birmingham City Council and several prominent business leaders from metro Detroit are among those on a list released last week of reserve police officers in the village of Oakley in Saginaw County.

Oakley has come under scrutiny in recent months for having a roster of nearly 150 reserve officers, many of them living far away from the one-square-mile, mid-Michigan village.

A lawsuit has raised questions over why a village with little crime and fewer than 300 residents needs a reserve police force of that size. More questions center on how well reserve officers are trained and whether many of them actually help police the community " even though they are issued a badge and allowed to carry a gun.

Dozens of the Oakley reserve officers are among people who have made donations totaling almost $200,000 to the village in the last several years. ...

So... the buying of a police badge is not something new that Connecticut has developed?