What Does a Police Officer Carrying a Bent Badge Mean? Inside the Troubling Law Enforcement Tradition
Why would a police officer intentionally bend their badge?
Published June 9 2025, 2:28 p.m. ET
If you’ve ever binged on a crime drama or followed police-related headlines, chances are you’ve noticed the little details — like a badge that doesn’t sit quite right. Maybe it’s slightly warped or bent at one of the tips. Then, you notice there are several officers who all have bent badges. Per Smith & Warren, a police badge carries heavy symbolic meaning. So, what exactly does it mean when a police officer is carrying a bent badge? The answer might leave you feeling a little uneasy.
Turns out, the bends in a police officer’s badge might not be an accident. At least not in one California police department where a bent badge is part of a controversial tradition that has caused outrage, fear, and a demand for reform.
What does a police officer carrying a bent badge mean? In Vallejo, it symbolizes a fatal shooting.
Ever heard of “badge bending”? It’s exactly what it sounds like. In Vallejo, Calif., officers have been accused of bending the tips of their badges to mark fatal shootings they’ve been involved in — one point bent for each person killed. The practice, first reported by Open Vallejo, wasn’t officially documented in department manuals or policies. According to multiple sources inside the Vallejo Police Department, it was a widely known secret.
Officers would allegedly gather informally — sometimes in backyards, sometimes with beers — and “honor” one another by warping their star-shaped badges after a shooting. One former officer told Open Vallejo it was treated like a joke. “They think it’s funny,” the anonymous source said. “It’s an indicator to each other how many hoodlums they’ve shot.”
It sounds more like a storyline from a gritty cop show than something happening in real life, but this isn't fiction.
One officer tried to stop it, and says he lost his job for speaking up.
Think about it: You get pulled over, and the officer walking up to your car has a badge with bent corners. If you know what that means — or even just suspect — it changes the entire energy of the interaction. That small twist of metal signals something unspoken: This officer has shot and killed someone in the line of duty. One fatal shooting for each bend of their badge.
The practice has made its way into Reddit threads where users try to make sense of it. Most describe it as disturbing, unnecessary, or just plain creepy. Even people who support law enforcement generally agree that this kind of tradition damages trust between police and the communities they serve.
Not everyone in Vallejo is on board with this tradition. John Whitney, a former SWAT commander and department captain with two master’s degrees, pushed for an internal investigation. He warned that “The community we serve will lose faith in us,” calling the badge-bending practice something that “needs to end.”
According to Open Vallejo, John was removed from his role after raising concerns and later filed a retaliation claim against the city. In 2022, the city agreed to a $900,000 settlement, with a federal judge finding credible evidence that John was forced out for trying to expose the practice.