- April 25, 2024
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Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Detective Roger Spires knows how kids love to collect stuff: He collected sports cards as a boy, and his 7-year-old son, Talan, does the same. So when Spires heard about a Colorado boy named Kyle Jensen who’d started a police patch collection in honor of an uncle and fallen officer — and then lost the entire collection, along with his home, in the Colorado wildfires — he was determined to help.
“My son, he collects sports cars, that’s his thing. So when I saw this kid collecting patches, I thought that was pretty cool,” he said.
Spires had been planning a vacation to Colorado, so he decided he’d collect patches for Kyle Jensen and bring Talan along to hand-deliver them. He sent out an agency-wide email, and the patches poured in.
“Right now, I have 153 that I’ve collected,” he said. “I just got bombarded with patches. There’s another detective who collects patches who probably gave 50 of 60 from his collection. They’ve just come in from all over.”
Spires has received patches from as far away as Hawaii and Canada, as well as patches from police departments and sheriff’s offices in Bunnell, St. Johns County, Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Pinellas County, Atlanta, New York City, Lexington, Ky., and other law enforcement agencies like the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Sheriff Manfre is giving out police challenge coins, and he gave Spires one to take to Kyle.
“Pretty much everyone in the agency is rallying around it. I went to our purchasing director, and he gave me all of our patches. The administration is backing it 100%, as well,” he said. “They took that whole brotherhood of law enforcement to another level.”
And Spires is still hoping for more patches, and collecting them from community members who have some they’d like to send.
“I would love for it to be over 200,” he said. “I don’t want to take someone’s own personal collection, but if you have one that doesn’t have sentimental value ... that’s what we’re looking for. Pretty much anything to do with law enforcement.” He’ll mail patches that arrive after he leaves.
What he looks forward to, he said, is the moment Talan hands the collection to Kyle. “I’m going to have my son give them to him. Just actually seeing him physically handing them to him, that’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said. “That’s how I want my son to grow up. I want him to grow up knowing that it’s better to give than to receive.”
Have a patch to contribute?
Send it to:
Attention Detective Roger Spires
1001 Justice Lane, Bunnell, FL 32110
