The University of Houston Police Department held its first badge-pinning ceremony since 2019, with 21 officers being pinned. The department planned to hold a badge-pinning ceremony in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to those plans.

The department has grown significantly since 2019, with new officers joining and others promoted to higher ranks. This led UHPD to hold the badge pinning ceremony to honor the officers and continue this important law enforcement tradition.

During badge pinning ceremonies, officers can be pinned by the highest rank officer, typically the Chief of Police or a Sheriff. However, officers also have the choice to have their badge pinned by a family member, friend, or an important person in their life.

“We have a saying in policing, ‘Welcome to the family,’ because that’s really what it is. A lot of times I see officers more than I see my own mom sometimes,” said UHPD Crime Prevention Officer Felip Gutierrez. “And when we invite our family members to come [to the badge pinning] it’s a way of welcoming them to this big family that we are. It’s giving them an opportunity to say, ‘thank you’.”

Gutierrez was among the 21 officers to get pinned, and the Crime Prevention Officer had his mom participate in the badge pinning.

“It was very emotional,” said Gutierrez on having his mom pin the badge on him. “She’s been on this journey with me since the beginning and I’m glad she was able to be there and pin me. And just to have her support with me throughout this whole thing. It really meant a lot.”

UHPD Corporal Brittaney Harvey, a mom herself, also called on a family member to pin her badge – her daughter, Eden.

This year’s UHPD badge pinning was the second one for Harvey. Her first badge-pinning ceremony came in 2015 when she joined UHPD. In that badge pinning, Eden was an infant, so Harvey was pinned by her aunt. A smiling Eden gleefully pinned the badge on her mom’s uniform nine years later.

“She was my first thought and my first choice,” said Harvey on having her daughter pin the badge on her. “I wanted to be sure that she pinned me so that we could have those memories.”

For UHPD Corporal Saul Llamas, there was only one person he wanted to pin the badge on — his father, Saul Llamas. After all, it's because of his father that Llamas decided to pursue a career in law enforcement. The senior Llamas is a deputy with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Llamas joined UHPD in 2018 as a dispatcher but moved to become an officer in 2022. To get pinned by his law enforcement father was a huge deal to him.

“I’ve always wanted to experience that [badge pinning] with him,” said Corporal Llamas. “I was looking forward to that day and I was excited.”

With badge pinning ceremonies back on the schedule for UHPD, Gutierrez said the department will hold them once a year or every two years, depending on its needs, the number of new graduates, and promotions.