What Elvis Presley Can Tell Us About Herschel Walker’s Sheriff Badge
What Elvis Presley Can Tell Us About Herschel Walker’s Sheriff Badge
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Football legend and Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker and his allies have spent the past few days defending his use of an honorary sheriff badge during a debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). The controversy made me recall another celebrity who had a habit of showing off his honorary police badges, the late, great King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley.
Walker has faced a series of scandals since launching his candidacy including a 2001 incident where police were called to his ex-wife’s home during a domestic situation, children he’s had out of wedlock, alleged abortion payments, and his wild claims about COVID and evolution. It’s a lot, particularly for a candidate who has been unabashedly “pro-life” and had criticized absentee fathers. In June, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Walker had falsely claimed to be “in law enforcement” in “at least three speeches delivered before he entered politics.”
Warnock, who was elected in 2020, drew all these threads together when the pair debated on Oct. 15.
“I have never pretended to be a police officer. And I’ve never threatened a shootout with the police,” Warnock said in an apparent reference to the 2001 incident.
Walker responded by pulling out a gold star badge from his blazer and briefly displaying it.
“I am work with many police officers,” Walker said, mangling his words.
The debate moderator reprimanded Walker for violating rules against using props on stage.
“It’s not a prop,” Walker replied. “It’s real.”
Walker doubled down in an interview that aired on NBC’s TODAY show Monday morning where he said it was a “legit” badge.
“I have badges all over the state of Georgia,” Walker said.
To prove his point, Walker showed NBC a badge that he said was from Georgia’s Johnson County.
“If anything happened in this county, I have the right to work with the police getting things done," he said. "People don’t know that I’ve been working with law enforcement for years,” Walker said.
Walker also claimed to have a badge from Chatham County. On Twitter, Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer shared an image of a card that indicated Walker was also “an honorary agent” for the Cobb County sheriff’s department. Neil Warren, the former Cobb County sheriff who signed off that identification card is a Republican. Warren endorsed Walker’s campaign with a statement wherein he declared, “I was proud to name him as an honorary deputy sheriff.”
“Herschel Walker partnered with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office for over 15 years while I was sheriff,” Warren said. “He led trainings on leadership, advocated for mental health, encouraged countless officers, and was always there to lend a hand whenever we needed him.”
Like Walker, Elvis had a slew of honorary law enforcement credentials. The King’s story provides a good example of how police badges and other items are sometimes given to celebrities like Walker and Elvis as a courtesy — and how they can sometimes be misused.
Earlier this year, I made a pilgrimage to Elvis’ Memphis, Tennessee home, Graceland, which was turned into a museum after his untimely death in 1977. Some of the police patches, badges, and guns Elvis collected during his life were on display. A notecard alongside these exhibits described Elvis’ affinity for the police and his relationships with specific departments.
“Elvis always had a deep respect for law enforcement. Elvis said that if he had not decided to pursue singing there is a chance he would have been a police officer,” the exhibit explained. “Throughout his life Elvis amassed an amazing collection of both guns and badges. As a citizen of Memphis, he was especially close with Memphis Police and Shelby County Sheriff’s departments.”
The exhibit claimed Elvis “held the rank of Captain with the Memphis Police Department and the Denver Police force.”
In 2020, Brian K. Trembath, a researcher with the Denver Public Library published a lengthy report detailing Elvis’ relationship with the city’s police force. Trembath described how Elvis developed relationships with high-ranking members of the Denver Police and was even given a uniform “of his own.” According to Trembath, Elvis went on a vacation to the Vail ski resort with two of the department’s officers. During that trip, Elvis bought them both luxury cars. In the following days, based on newspaper accounts, Elvis bought luxury cars for a police doctor, at least one other officer, and two unnamed women who were with the group.
“Getting a read on exactly how many cars Elvis bought in Denver during that memorable week is challenging,” Trembath wrote. “Some local newspaper accounts suggest that he may have purchased as many as nine vehicles, but those same papers only point to six individual purchases, including the two to the nameless women.”
Elvis’ automotive shopping spree with the Denver Police ended up posing several legal, ethical, and financial questions. Trembath noted reporters questioned Denver Police Captain Jerry Kennedy, who received one of the cars, about whether the gift was an appropriate one for a civil servant. Kennedy insisted it was while simultaneously acknowledging there were potential issues.
"I certainly don't see anything wrong with [it]. It's a matter of personal friendship and has nothing to do with my duties as a police officer,” Kennedy said. “If this guy [Elvis] was a local resident who we might come into contact with here it might be something different."
Denver Police Chief Art Dill was also reportedly offered a car, but turned it down because it was up to him to decide whether the other officers were allowed to keep theirs.
“I will say it was difficult to refuse, that Mr. Presley seemed hurt when I had to tell him no, but that I explained my position to him and thanked him for the offer,” Dill told the Rocky Mountain News.
According to the paper, Elvis spent the equivalent of about $318,000 in 2020 dollars on the cars. The Rocky Mountain News also reported in 1977 that the Colorado Department of Revenue filed a claim with a Memphis probate court seeking unpaid taxes on the vehicles. According to Trembath, “it's unclear whether the State received that money from the Presley estate or whether the recipients of the gifts wound up footing the bill themselves.”
The Graceland exhibit also described another aspect of Elvis’ police hobby that seemed legally questionable.
“Elvis also had dashboard police lights for his cars and he was known for pulling people over a time or two, giving them a lecture on safety, and signing an autograph before letting them go on their way,” the exhibit said.
Walker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment asking about the comparison to Elvis, the number of police badges he owns, or whether he has ever been an official staff member of any law enforcement agency.
Some critics have said it was inappropriate for Walker to claim honorary badges are indicative of real law enforcement work. Back in June, former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan told the Atlanta Journal Constitution the badges would not give Walker any real law enforcement authority.
“It’s like a junior ranger badge,” Morgan said.
The offices of the Cobb and Chatham County sheriff’s departments also did not immediately respond to requests for comment about their relationships with Walker.
When I called the Johnson County, I spoke to Sheriff Greg Rowland, who confirmed he gave Walker the badge that the candidate displayed during the debate. Rowland said he had no issue with how Walker used the badge.
When asked if Walker had worked for the department, Rowland clarified that the candidate is “a volunteer.” He also elaborated on the type of help he might expect from Walker.
“Just anything if we needed some help, like talking to groups of children, he’d be more than glad to help, or if we had a disaster we could call him to help us,” Rowland said. “We have a very small department and I have several in the county here that have those honorary deputy badges and I could call on those people to help me.”
Rowland, who was elected as a Republican, said he is “good friends” with Walker.
“I know him all my life,” Rowland said. “I’m 62-years-old. I’ve known Herschel forever.”
Rowland also identified one characteristic when I asked why he gave Walker an honorary badge.
“Just being a good Christian fellow. That’s what I like,” Rowland said of Walker. “I think this country’s going down a bad road right now. We need more people like him that are good Christian faith people.”
Rowland said he was not aware of Elvis’ relationship with various law enforcement agencies, but he clearly approved of it.
“That’s cool. That’s fine,” Rowland said of Elvis’ honorary badges. “You need to give those badges out to good credible people and good Christian people.”
There’s one point of clarification needed here. When I visited Graceland, along with learning about Elvis’ love of the police, I also discovered that the King of Rock & Roll was — at least partially — Jewish.