Camden Police Department Badge

The Camden Police Department in South Carolina was looking for a new badge that prominently featured their community history and the importance of Camden’s horse culture. How can hundreds of years of history be symbolized on a new badge? It helps to bring your department’s historian into the design process very early. Their historian told stories and shared photos which gave our design team a lot of inspiration.

Camden Police wanted a modern badge design while simultaneously retaining departmental heritage with symbols from their original shield. We worked with their department to select historical elements with significant meaning knowing that we could use special manufacturing techniques, like using both gold and silver plating on the badge, to give the new badge a contemporary look. Designing with intent helped build a story about their badge that the department could proudly share with their community. The new badge project was a unifying experience for the Camden Police Department, paying respect to their history while blazing a new path forward.

The Archive Team introduced us to King Hagler, the protector of Camden, who was enshrined on a weathervane to sit atop their clock tower in the 1800’s. King Hagler stands prominently as the protector of Camden’s law enforcement on their custom badge.

Camden is one of the oldest cities in South Carolina, going all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Camden City Hall is shown with stately details of brick, columns, and tower with their founding dates. City Hall is flanked by two Pine Trees referencing the town’s original name of Pine Tree Hill. The fun fact of Camden’s status as the oldest inland city of South Carolina curves under King Hagler’s stance.

Camden’s badge also has two horseshoes placed on either side of the Camden Police nameplates to symbolize the “Carolina Cup” and the community’s historical fame as the “Steeplechase Capital of the World.”  These features are unique to Camden’s horse culture and unique to their custom badge.

The Smith and Warren design team proposed a double arc panel, which not only provides the necessary space for Camden City Hall but also adds a unique aesthetic touch to the top panel of the badge. The impact of these elements is significantly enhanced by the choice of two-tone metal finishes. Using two-tone metal finishes ensures that King Hagler and the lucky horseshoes stand out as special historic elements on their badge. Manufacturing finesse, along with the detail of the historic elements make this badge special.

At Smith and Warren, we enjoyed learning about Camden’s history. Adding your historian to a badge design process helps curate the research we undertake by connecting the dots on dates and telling your community story to include actual buildings, landmarks, and significant historical elements. A custom badge design project positively impacts your department, whether it is a choice by new leadership, a celebration of a special anniversary, or it is time for a new badge design. We ask to be your badge design and manufacturing partner for these reasons or for any occasion worthy of celebrating, memorializing, or a new beginning with your department.

Camden Police Department's badge was a BadgeStudio Project. Enjoy the Camden BadgeStudio factory journey below! For more information about our BadgeStudio design service, please contact us.