Police collectors’ exhibition in Davenport showcases the history of U.S. law enforcement

From historical badges to challenge coins to police patches and everything in between, there is something for every lover of United States police history.

Damir Krdžalić, a former Scott County Sheriff’s Department interpreter who now owns Shield Life Promotions Inc., co-hosted the show with Peter Harris, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer and co-founder of Code 4 Public Safety Emblems in Jacksonville, Florida.

“We have 270 tables, 180 different sellers from 44 different countries, as well as sellers from Canada and France,” said Krdžalić.

Harris said the conventions have been taking place since 1985.

“It varies from city to city depending on who agrees to host it,” he said. “We (Harris and Krdžalić) started talking about hosting one and we thought about Nashville and I thought, ‘Why not Davenport?'”

This is the first convention to be held in Iowa.

This would have been the 40th event, but one of those was canceled because of Hurricane Katrina, Harris said. The first event was held in California in 1985.

Among the vendors is 72-year-old Darryl Petker, who worked as a police officer in Richmond, California, for seven years before going back to school and becoming an engineer.

Petker owns Honor Carvings in Higley, Arizona, where he creates badges and plaques for heroes across the country.

“For fallen officers, I have sent 300 memorial plaques to the families,” he said. “They are free. I made 13 for the 13 Americans killed in Afghanistan in 2021.”

He loved woodworking classes when he was in middle school, Petker said. He has been carving since he was 22 and has been creating his honorary carvings for about 12 years.

Scott County Sheriff’s Deputy Curt Wilson said he was amazed when he looked at the tables.

“It’s just amazing to look at the old police officers from the 19th century to 2024,” Wilson said. “We’ve always needed police officers to maintain law and order. From then until now, there’s always been a need for police officers to keep people safe.”

On one of the tables was a Des Moines Police Department badge with the word “Reporter” written on it, allowing a newspaper reporter to get to the scene and report on the crime without being stopped by other police officers.

“I learned something new today,” Wilson said of the badge.

He added that law enforcement is a special brotherhood: “When people see red and blue coming in bad times, it gives them hope and that’s what we’re here for.”

Another seller, George Stumpf, is a retired U.S. Vice Marshall and Vietnam veteran. Stumpf now lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming and has been collecting for 60 years.

His oldest piece is a solid gold plaque that he bought many years ago for 50 cents.

“I bought it from a gun collector. I asked him if he had any badges, and he had a whole box full of plastic badges falling out the bottom, and I bought it from him,” Stumpf said.

“I have about 600 badges and I have my Wyoming collection and my Arizona collection,” he added. “I started picking up badges here and there and I was just addicted.”

Stumpf’s badges represent both the history of the U.S. Marshals Service and the history of law enforcement in the United States. Some, he said, are worth thousands of dollars.