Dial 866 and Say "I Do"

Back in July we wrote of getting telephone calls where the caller asks whether this is FedEx.  It is not, but as it turns out our toll-free number is only a few digits off from the FedEx number, so a few careless callers a a month get us when what they want is FedEx.

We wondered whether FedEx gets calls from people seeking badges.

Today a new wrong number has cropped up.  So far today we have received two calls from persons seeking MyWedding.com, the toll-free number for which is identical to ours except for the first three digits.

Ours is 800.  Theirs is 866.

Still, it is a sales opportunity for us.  We have in the past sold beach badges to persons planning beach-themed wedding receptions.  So maybe we need to change our telephone greeting to "Thank you for calling the Badge Company.  May we help plan your wedding?"

Front Page News

It’s right there, on the front page of the November 17 edition of the Star-Ledger, above the fold, where it deserves to be: A story about a Newark cop whose heroic action is not a one-time thing, it is ongoing. Check out the story here.

Come See Us in A.C.

This week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, representatives of the Badge Company of New Jersey will once again be at the annual New Jersey State League of Municipalities Conference in the Atlantic City Convention Center, in booth #236.

We will have new products and new catalogs available, along with more badge choices than any other source. Stop by!

It is the 96th NJLM convention, which has been held in the new Atlantic City Convention Center since that facility opened in 1997. Prior to that time the conference was held in the old Convention Hall, shown in the vintage postcard photo above. The new facility is a great one, but the old Convention Hall has been fully refurbished and renamed Boardwalk Hall, and plays host to concerts, sporting events, and much more.

We look forward to seeing many old friends and meeting new ones this week.

Knee Jerks

When the news first broke this past Monday that Newark officer Michael Morgan had been fatally shot outside a strip club in Paterson at 3 AM, there was much speculative nonsense on the online news sites from nameless pinheads. The speculation centered on why he was at a Paterson strip club at 3 AM.

Being outside a Paterson strip club at 3 AM may not be the wisest thing to do, but nobody – and certainly not a police officer – deserves to be fatally shot for doing so.

As it turns out, the reason that Morgan was at the strip club was because he was with a group of fellow officers, celebrating a birthday. Again, perhaps not the wisest time and place for a birthday party but certainly nothing like the inappropriate behavior suggested by anonymous internet trolls.

The shooting arose from an attempted robbery of the officer and a companion. Newark Mayor Cory Booker got it right when he said, "Some two-bit criminals stole his life from his family, from the community and from his country. And for what? Some credit cards. Some chump change."

Good police work has at least one of those two-bit criminals in custody as we write. But we remain annoyed at the clueless knee-jerk comments from the online knee jerks.

Pulled Over

Earlier this year we blogged about championship-winning motorcycle racer James "Bubba" Stewart being arrested for impersonating a police officer. Now his case has been adjudicated.

The arrest arose from an incident in which Stewart, driving a Toyota pickup, used red and blue flashing lights he bought at a flea market to pull over a car not far from his Florida home. Unfortunately for Stewart, the car he tried to pull over was occupied by several real police officers.

The initial charge of impersonating an officer was reduced to a misdemeanor charge of using inappropriate flashing lights on a motor vehicle. This week Stewart pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor and the court in Osceola County fined him $500 and ordered him to complete 75 hours of community service.

Perhaps his community service can include him telling his many young fans how colossally dumb it is to put flashing lights in your car and pretend that you’re a cop.