Badge Lends Mystery to Burglary Case : Sherman Oaks: Police say the old insignia, if it is real, should have been retired 30 years ago. It apparently was dropped by the thief.

An investigation into an auto burglary case Tuesday turned up a mystery amid the usual clues: a Los Angeles police badge of a style not seen in decades.

The badge, if it is authentic, is more than 30 years old. The number on it has not been retired but the style of the badge was changed in the early 1960s.

According to police, the badge should have been destroyed back then but somehow ended up in the hands of a burglar who may have been using it to identify himself as a police officer if stopped by anyone suspicious of his activities.

“It’s a mystery,” said Sgt. Charles Laird. “This badge has been out of circulation for a long time. If it is real, then it should have been taken in and destroyed.”

The badge was discovered when Felipe Darrell, 29, who lives on Dickens Street in Sherman Oaks, found his Chevrolet Blazer broken into. The thief had smashed out the rear window and then climbed into the truck to get the stereo and phone.

“While climbing in, the badge must have fallen out of his pocket and he never noticed,” said Darrell, who found it in a leather case on the passenger seat of the truck.

Laird said that it is not uncommon for facsimile badges to be made and sold at swap meets. But the badge found by Darrell appears old, unpolished and authentic, he said. He said the number on the badge--2065--has been used continuously since the 1920s by 11 different officers, including one currently on the force. But he said he found no record of a badge with that number on it reported missing or stolen.

He said there is a possibility the badge belonged to a long-retired officer and was possibly stolen from him. The department does not allow retiring officers to keep their badges but Laird was unsure how long that policy has been practiced.

In addition to Darrell’s truck, another car in the garage and two storage lockers were broken into by the unknown intruder, Laird said.