Pullman car, Jeep featured on patch
The Butler police have been wearing their pride on their sleeves for a long time.
Just recently, the look of that pride changed.
The city police at the start of this year changed the patch that officers wear on their sleeves.
It is in the shape of a badge, and features the words “City of Butler” in all capital letters at the top. Below that is a yellow Pullman railcar, and below the car is the word “Police” diagonally in all capital letters. At the bottom is an Army-green Jeep.
“We wanted a patch that was geared more toward the city,” said Chief Ron Brown. “All the guys got together and this was the one that we came up with. Everybody was instrumental, but (Lt. Chad Rensel) did a lot of the designing.”
Brown had the idea to create a new patch when he was a lieutenant, and wanted to make it happen when he became chief.
One midnight shift in 2014, Rensel and a few other officers were discussing the idea. Rensel, who dabbled in art in high school, sketched a Jeep on a piece of paper.
That was well received because the Bantam Jeep was invented in Butler in 1940 as a military vehicle.
“At first we thought of just having the Jeep on, but then we thought, ‘We have room,’” said officer Nathan Schulik. “So we thought we could add. We said the car from (Pullman Standard) because it was such a big part of the city. It’s what we used to thrive on.”
Pullman Standard made rail cars from 1902-1982 in Butler.
The “City of Butler” and “Police” were added, and colors were chosen. Army green was selected for the Jeep and yellow was chosen for the railcar because of the yellow Pullman railcar at Pullman Center Business Park.
The design still had to be put to a vote, and faced competition from several other designs. One was a portrait of Gen. Richard Butler, and another was an updated version of the patch, which used to read “Butler Penna.”
The results were tallied, and Rensel’s design won.
Once it was chosen, the design was taken to a uniform shop and a mock patch was made.
“Once it was mocked up, it went pretty quick because the colors were chosen and there were very little changes made,” Rensel said.
While the patch was made mandatory at the beginning of 2016, some patches were seen as early as 2015’s Bantam Heritage Jeep Festival because of some officers wore new uniforms.
“It’s kind of a law enforcement thing to trade patches and what not,” Rensel said. “It was kind of a rewarding experience to me to have these guys seek it out and say, ‘I need that patch.’”
Schulik and his twin brother, Nick Schulik take pride in the patch.
“I grew up in Butler,” Nathan Schulik said. “My grandpa worked at Pullman. My uncles worked at Pullman. So having that on my uniform, there’s definitely pride on that. It goes back to my roots.”
