New police patch miffs many

Paul B. Johnson, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·3 min read

May 3—HIGH POINT — The city recently changed the long-standing design of the prominent shoulder patch that adorns the uniform of High Point Police Department officers, and some folks aren't thrilled about it.

The new patch has the same dark blue, black and gold color scheme and a similar design as the nearly 40-year-old design of the patch that is being phased out: The old one has the state of North Carolina in gold with a blue star marking the spot where High Point is, while the new patch also has the state in gold but features a black horizontal line to the left of a blue dot where High Point is. The dot echoes the dot that is in the city's new overall brand symbol.

The new patch design has received less-than-stellar reviews on the High Point Police Department's Facebook page.

"Change is not always good, and this is one of those things! Old one was better!" one person wrote.

"I get that it's supposed to go hand-in-hand with the new High Point logo, but it really just looks a lot like Robocop," another wrote.

Retired police officer Tony Hamrick also chimed in on the Facebook page.

"Did Tennessee annex part of North Carolina?" Hamrick wrote of the black line stretching west from the High Point dot. "It looks like an odd-shaped bird with a blue dot for an eye. Not a fan."

Hamrick elaborated on his disappointment with the new patch in an interview with The High Point Enterprise.

"It doesn't look right — it looks kind of off," he said. "I haven't talked to any retired officer who likes it."

City of High Point Managing Director Jeron Hollis said the new patch design is part of a citywide effort to feature the new brand image across departments and agencies. Hollis said that the city incorporated the longtime look of the patch and its color scheme into the new design. Hollis said that the city earmarked $250,000 in the current budget for implementation of the new branding across High Point departments.

"We will search for ways to stretch the future budgeted dollars we get as far as possible," Hollis told The Enterprise.

The old High Point Police Department patch design dates to1966, said Al Ferguson, who retired in 2022 after a 30-year police career. That shoulder patch was designed by a civilian employee, Susie Beane, who later became a pioneering female High Point police officer and lieutenant.

Ferguson said that High Point had kept its police patch unchanged for one of the longest periods among all municipalities across North Carolina.

Hamrick, who retired in 2012 after a nearly 30-year police career, said that the change to the patch wasn't advocated by anyone within the High Point Police Department but by City Hall.

"They basically gave the police department two or three choices of what you are going to get," Hamrick said.

But Hollis said current members of the police department were consulted in the redesign of the patch, and the new design wasn't imposed on the department.

The city will limit the expense of the new patch by making changes as uniforms are regularly changed from being frayed due to extended use, Hollis said, though the city has set aside money in the budget to cover costs associated with phasing in the new brand image across city government.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul