Man Hopes to Return Vintage Colorado State Patrol Badge
An Aurora man is looking to return a vintage Colorado State Patrol (CPS) badge to its original owner's family.
Rob Heikens, who refers to himself as a collector, said he found the badge while looking through old boxes, but wasn't sure how it had gotten there.
Heikens was able to identify the owner of the badge by its engravings. According to The Denver Channel, the badge belonged to D.W. Handrick, a CPS captain who served from 1935 to 1961.
While Heikens does not expect to find Handrick, the captain's name did appear in a 1949 newspaper article about whether or not 16-year-olds should be able to drive.
"Sergeant D.W. Handrick of the State Patrol gave us some interesting figures on drivers involved in accidents during the year 1947," said the article's author Virginia Miller Weigand. "...98 drivers under 16 years of age were involved in accidents, 6 of these were fatal accidents."
Heikens doesn't want to find the captain for any traffic statistics, but he is hoping to give the badge to a family member. He said that if someone found something like that of his relative's, he would love to have it.
"I don't have any big idea that's going to be life-changing for me, but hopefully it'll do something for them," said Heikens.