SAVANNAH, Ga. — Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate in Georgia’s pivotal Senate race, drew some head scratches — and a debate moderator’s rebuke — when he brandished an honorary sheriff’s badge on Friday whereas debating his Democratic opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock.
In a second that ricocheted on-line, Mr. Walker, a soccer legend endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, was responding to Mr. Warnock’s accusations that he had misrepresented himself as a legislation enforcement officer and had beforehand threatened to commit acts of violence.
However Mr. Walker’s flaunting of the honorary badge, a recognition commonplace for celebrities to obtain, introduced new scrutiny to his credentials and the loosely outlined relationships that may emerge between legislation enforcement businesses and well-known folks.
The second unfolded after Mr. Warnock made claims about Mr. Walker’s skilled historical past, saying that Mr. Walker “has an issue with the reality.”
“One factor I’ve not executed — I’ve by no means pretended to be a police officer, and I’ve by no means threatened a shootout with police,” Mr. Warnock mentioned, referencing controversies in Mr. Walker’s previous. At which level, Mr. Walker flashed the badge in response, saying he had “labored with many law enforcement officials.”
The badge was given to him in recognition of neighborhood service work he had executed with the Cobb County sheriff’s division, in keeping with his marketing campaign spokesman, Will Kiley. Mr. Walker additionally has an honorary badge from the sheriff division in Johnson County in East Georgia, which incorporates his hometown, Wrightsville. Representatives for the sheriff’s departments in each counties had been unavailable for remark.
One of many debate moderators, the WSAV anchor Tina Tyus-Shaw, admonished Mr. Walker after he brandished the badge and requested him to place it away. She mentioned that he was “properly conscious” of the talk’s guidelines towards utilizing props onstage.
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“It’s not a prop,” Mr. Walker countered. “That is actual.” Nevertheless, the badge he offered on the talk stage was not an genuine badge that educated sheriffs carry, however an honorary badge usually given to celebrities in sports activities or leisure. (It appears seemingly that Mr. Walker and the moderator connected totally different meanings to the thought of a prop. She was apparently saying that objects used for demonstrations weren’t allowed; she was not referring to the validity of the badge.)
It isn’t unusual for athletes to be acknowledged by legislation enforcement. In 2021, Cobb County named the Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins a special deputy.
When Mr. Wilkins was sworn in, a sheriff’s spokeswoman famous to The Cobb County Courier that Mr. Wilkins didn’t have the identical authority as a daily deputy sheriff to hold a weapon and arrest folks. She characterised his position as being a liaison and associate.
In 2021, the sheriff’s workplace in Henry County, Ga., which is about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta, gave a member of the N.B.A. Corridor of Fame, Shaquille O’Neal, the title of director for neighborhood relations.
Neil Warren, who was the Cobb County sheriff when he named Mr. Walker an honorary deputy sheriff, endorsed his Senate bid in July.
In a statement on the time, Mr. Warren mentioned that Mr. Walker “partnered with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Workplace for over 15 years” and “led trainings on management, advocated for psychological well being, inspired numerous officers, and was all the time there to assist at any time when we wanted him.”
However many others specific vital skepticism in regards to the type of honorary recognition granted by legislation enforcement.
“Georgia sheriffs had been critically handing out these badges like sweet in a sweet dish,” J.Tom Morgan, a former district legal professional in DeKalb County, Ga., who was elected as a Democrat, mentioned in an interview on Saturday. “That badge offers you no legislation enforcement authority. He doesn’t have the ability to write down a site visitors ticket.”
Mr. Morgan, who’s now a professor at Western Carolina College, mentioned the badges grew to become so extensively abused that the Georgia Sheriffs’ Affiliation curtailed the follow of giving them out.
“What would occur is anyone would get stopped for rushing, and they might whip out a kind of badges,” he mentioned. “And there have been folks charged with impersonating a police officer.”
J. Terry Norris, the manager director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Affiliation, mentioned in an e mail on Saturday that honorary credentials will not be regulated by state legislation and provided on the pleasure of the legislation enforcement officers.
“There isn’t any arrest authority related to honorary credentials,” Mr. Norris mentioned.
Mr. Walker has exaggerated his work in law enforcement earlier than. In 2019, he told soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State that he was a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, which was false. He has additionally repeatedly mentioned in marketing campaign stump speeches that he labored as a member of legislation enforcement, however he didn’t.
In Georgia, the position of sheriff is an elected partisan workplace, and there may be rewards for each the donors and recipients of honorary badges.
In accordance with the Nationwide Sheriffs’ Affiliation, there aren’t any formal tips stipulating the use and look of honorary badges — and what distinguishes them from actual ones.
“It ought to be understood that an honorary badge is for the trophy case,” Pat Royal, a spokesman for the Nationwide Sheriffs’ Affiliation, mentioned in an e mail on Saturday. Mr. Royal specified that he was referring to honorary badges normally, not Mr. Walker’s.
Mr. Walker’s efficiency through the debate yielded a flurry of memes and widespread derision on-line.
“In equity to Herschel Walker,” George Takei, the actor identified for his position on “Star Trek,” tweeted on Friday evening, “I typically pull out my Star Fleet badge to get previous safety at Star Trek conferences.”
Erick Erickson, a conservative commentator, defended Mr. Walker.
“He was made an honorary deputy sheriff in Cobb County, Georgia, and spent 15 years serving to that division and discussing with deputies the right way to deal with psychological well being conditions,” Mr. Erickson mentioned on Friday evening on Twitter. “However I do know details don’t matter on Twitter.”
The picture of Mr. Walker waving his badge through the debate referred to as to thoughts one other celeb with a penchant for badges: Elvis Presley. Throughout a meeting in 1970 with President Richard M. Nixon, the King famously asked for a federal narcotics agency badge. Mr. Presley’s widow, Priscilla Presley, mentioned the badge’s attract in her memoir, “Elvis and Me.”
“The narc badge represented some type of final energy to him,” Ms. Presley wrote.
