Two years after public uproar, Mount Prospect police choose new patch
More than two years after a divided Mount Prospect village board voted to remove a controversial police patch from its officers' uniforms, the department has found its replacement.
Mount Prospect police Officer Greg Sill said members of the police administration landed on a design after searching for something that's visually appealing and also representative of the department and the community.
“We spoke with officers during our recent shift meetings about what type of elements they were looking for or they would want to see in the patch, and taking all that information together, we were able to come up with a design,” he said.
The design was shown to the village manager and village board before being ordered. The process of getting them uniforms is underway, Sill said.
The village board voted 4-3 in August 2021 the remove the previous patch over its "thin blue line" imagery.
During several board meetings and hours of public comment, along with protests and counter-protests outside village hall, critics of the patch said the imagery had been co-opted by extremist groups and its use was intimidating to people of color.
Police leaders and proponents of the patch said the thin blue line honored law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.
The issue garnered national attention when then police Chief John Koziol and two officers appeared on Fox News to support the patch.
The new patch promises to incorporate symbols of both national and civic pride.
It will contain the image of an eagle, representing the United States and the value of freedom. It will also have an American flag motif. In addition, the design has a pattern of blue stars, as well as the name of the village and the year of its incorporation, 1917.
“We really wanted it to represent us as well,” Sill said. “I think a lot of officers have been thrilled to get a patch back on. We're very proud of our police department. We're proud of our community and being part of our community.”