Nick's badge in Season One
As police officers, Nick Knight and his partners (Don Schanke and Tracy Vetter) have to carry a badge and identification with them in a wallet, and open it to display their ID when introducing themselves in a professional context. There are numerous episodes where they pull out their wallets and show ID when first talking to someone who is a witness or victim in a case. As a rule, we see no more than a flash of the ID as Nick says, "Detective Knight, Metro Police" and gives his partner's name.
Nick's badge in Season One[]
From the episode "Hunters", we know that Nick's badge number is 16596. In "Dance by the Light of the Moon", when Nick identifies himself in Jilly's, there is a rare close-up—in sufficient detail to see what is typed on the identification document that accompanies the badge itself. It is headed "Metropolitan Police", and then has:
- Nick's name and photograph.
- The precinct to which he is assigned: at that time, the 27th Precinct police station.
- His address; or more properly the address of the police station to which he is attached: for the 27th Precinct, this is 7 Curity Avenue.[1]
- The date of issue: Oct 1/90.
- Nick's age: according to the police records he was passing for 31 at the time the ID was issued.
There is also a place for Nick's "SS#", presumably his Social Security Number. This is one of the many examples of Americanisms in the series. In Canada, people have Social Insurance Numbers, instead; so it should have read "S.I.N."
Badges in Season Two[]
Sufficient portions of the badge Nick carried in subsequent seasons can be seen to know that the identification looked somewhat different. This is only to be expected, since he was assigned to the 96th Precinct in Seasons Two and Season Three. His precinct was included with the information on the badge in "Dance by the Light of the Moon", which means that he would have to have been issued a new one. Schanke's badge was seen in close-up in "The Code" when he decided to quit his job. From this, we can see that the design of both the badge and the accompanying identification document were altered for Season Two. In addition, the prop of Nick's badge was photographed close-up at Bridging the Knight.
The new badge has a blue enamel centre with a small shield on it. Written around the shield on the enamelled area are the words "Metropolitan Police". This is also on the ID, along with the shield. The photograph is now on the right side of the document, which also includes the name of the officer, the badge number, and the signature. It no longer includes the officer's age; and, instead of the number of the precinct to which the officer is assigned, it gives the department number.
On the new badge, Nick's ID number is given as 8072; his department is 314.
Schanke's badge shows that both the badge and the identification document changed from Season One to Season Two.
Publicity photo of Nick with seasons 2/3 badge
Badges in Season Three[]
The prop of Tracy Vetter's Police Commission ID was also photographed at Bridging the Knight. Though similar to the Season Two badges in having the photo on the right, it has an orange background and a different header, saying "Metropolitan Police Commission". It gives Tracy's ID number as 4236. Her department is given as "Homocide" (sic).