Ex-police officer's long-lost badge found on eBay

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A retired police officer in Illinois has been reunited with a badge he lost while out on a call more than 30 years ago.

Bill Golden, a former officer with the Glenview Police Department, said his badge apparently fell off his uniform while he was searching a drunk driver's car in 1987, and he was unable to locate the badge despite obtaining a search warrant from a judge.

Golden said a memorabilia-hunting friend recently discovered the missing badge, which bore his number, 148, for sale on eBay -- and it had someone made its way to Latvia.

Golden said he attempted to contact the seller, but when his inquiries went ignored, he had eBay shut down the auction. He said he didn't want to buy the badge back, since he considered it stolen property, but a friend surprised him with the badge for his 60th birthday.

The retired officer said he now has all thee badges he wore during his tenure with the Glenview department, including another one that was temporarily lost when it fell down a sewer.

"I got a real ribbing from them when I dumped it in the sewer," Golden told The Daily Herald of his fellow officers. "I was getting out of the car and the seat belt snagged on my badge, and it just popped off my shirt, out the window and down a sewer."