Sheriff's Office Employee Designs New Patch for Uniforms

LAKE COUNTY, IL — The day-to-day attire for Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies will soon change and the new garb will save the department about $10,000 per year. The sheriff's office recently asked its employees to submit a design for a new shoulder patch on their uniform shirts, and picked a winning design from 20 entries. The new shoulder patch will be the first major change to the patch in nearly 80 years, according to officials.

In addition, the sheriff's office law enforcement division will transition from a medium-blue-colored uniform shirt to a navy-blue uniform shirt. The new shirts will cost $20 less per shirt and will save the office about $10,o00 per year, according to the news release.

A selection committee picked the winning patch but the designer is remaining anonymous as he or she did not want his name released, Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman Christopher Covelli told Patch.

The winning patch emphasizes the word ‘SHERIFF’ in bold lettering at the top, so the community can easily differentiate sheriff’s employees from other municipal police. Below the word ‘SHERIFF’ the public will see the division or unit each employee is assigned, authorities said.

Sheriff’s office command staff will wear a shoulder patch with gold lettering and gold trim and non-command sheriff’s office staff will wear a shoulder patch with silver lettering and silver trim, according to the news release.

"Our new shoulder patch brings consistency in appearance for all of our uniformed staff. Deciding on the design of the patch was certainly not an easy task," Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said. "We have many talented employees who submitted terrific designs. Our new patch design and new uniform shirt colors will have a long-lasting impression on our Office, and we are very excited for the transition.”