LMPD 挑戰硬幣：形象將軍官等同於戰士，硬幣可能引發爭議

一位古希臘戰士，手中的長矛上刻有「西方最佳」字樣。獎章展示了丘吉爾唐斯標誌性的雙尖塔。

An ancient Greek warrior with a spear emblazoned with the words “Best in the West.” Medallions showcasing Churchill Downs’ iconic twin spires. Police in riot gear standing in front of a burning Louisville skyline.

一位古希臘戰士，手中的長矛上刻有「西方最佳」字樣。獎章展示了丘吉爾唐斯標誌性的雙尖塔。身著防暴裝備的警察站在燃燒的路易斯維爾天際線前。

These are among the designs of collectible “challenge coins” that have been offered for sale to Louisville Metro Police officers through internal department-wide emails in recent years.

這些是可收藏的「挑戰硬幣」的設計之一，近年來透過部門內部電子郵件向路易斯維爾地鐵警察出售。

While widely circulated within the department, the challenge coins are largely unavailable to the broader public — except for some that end up being resold on the internet. Emails obtained by The Courier Journal under the Kentucky Open Records Act provide a glimpse at the collectibles officers are designing and purchasing. The tokens range from controversial — like the riot police one — to more mundane and offer a window into how members of the beleaguered department see themselves.

雖然挑戰幣在該部門內廣泛流通，但大多數公眾都無法獲得挑戰幣——除了一些最終在網路上轉售的幣。 《信使日報》根據《肯塔基州開放記錄法》獲得的電子郵件讓我們得以一睹官員正在設計和購買的收藏品。這些代幣的範圍從有爭議的——例如防暴警察的代幣——到更普通的代幣，為了解陷入困境的部門成員如何看待自己提供了一個窗口。

Challenge coins originally gained popularity in the military, but today they're a staple of American police culture.

挑戰硬幣最初在軍隊中流行，但如今它們已成為美國警察文化的主要內容。

“Traditionally, the challenge coin was something that was used among soldiers to commemorate either membership of a particular unit or being part of a particular operation or campaign. And that's very much how police use it,” said Michael Sierra-Arévalo, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of "The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing."

「傳統上，挑戰硬幣是士兵之間使用的東西，以紀念特定部隊的成員資格或特定行動或戰役的一部分。德州大學奧斯汀分校社會學家、《危險勢在必行：暴力、死亡與警務靈魂》一書的作者麥可‧塞拉-阿雷瓦洛（Michael Sierra-Arévalo）說，這就是警察使用它的方式。

The coins are such a ubiquitous part of law enforcement culture that when Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman was the top federal prosecutor for the Western District of Kentucky, his office would tweet out images of the collectibles from across the commonwealth and nation as part of “#ChallengeCoinFriday.”

這些硬幣是執法文化中無處不在的一部分，以至於當肯塔基州總檢察長拉塞爾·科爾曼(Russell Coleman) 擔任肯塔基州西區最高聯邦檢察官時，他的辦公室會在推特上發布來自聯邦和國家各地的收藏品圖片，作為“#”的一部分挑戰幣星期五。

LMPD’s coins are largely designed by individual officers or groups of officers and advertised for sale inside the department. Sometimes, coins created by groups like the Louisville Metro Police Foundation are offered for sale.

LMPD 的硬幣主要由個別警官或警官團體設計，並在部門內做廣告出售。有時，路易斯維爾地鐵警察基金會等團體創造的硬幣會被出售。

From emails The Courier Journal reviewed, $10 is generally the standard price for a challenge coin, although special ones can cost more. LMPD coins resold online can sometimes go for many times that amount. The LMPD coin depicting the Greek warrior is currently listed at $65 plus shipping on eBay.

根據《信使日報》評論的電子郵件，10 美元通常是挑戰幣的標準價格，儘管特殊的可能會更貴。在線上轉售的 LMPD 硬幣有時可以賣到這個金額的許多倍。描繪希臘戰士的 LMPD 硬幣目前在 eBay 上的售價為 65 美元（含運費）。

Imagery that evokes warriors is a shared theme among a number of LMPD’s coins. The Greek warrior coin, which was offered for sale in 2020, features a figure holding a spear while draped in a black, blue and white American flag. The coin was created for LMPD’s 2nd Division, which covers much of Louisville’s West End, a mostly Black section of the city with a disproportionate number of homicides compared to the rest of Louisville. The names of individual West End neighborhoods are written on the stripes of the flag, which is worn as a cape. “Best in the West” is written on the spear.

喚起戰士的形像是 LMPD 的許多硬幣的共同主題。這枚希臘武士硬幣於 2020 年發售，其圖案是一個手持長矛、披著黑、藍、白三色美國國旗的人物。這枚硬幣是為路易斯維爾警察局第二分局設計的，該分局覆蓋了路易斯維爾西區的大部分地區，該地區以黑人為主，與路易斯維爾其他地區相比，兇殺案數量不成比例。西區各個街區的名稱都寫在旗幟的條紋上，旗幟被當作斗篷佩戴。長矛上寫著「西方最佳」。

“This imagery that directly equates officers to warriors, soldiers, that are presumably fighting some enemy — that is something that’s relatively pervasive within policing,” said Sierra-Arévalo, who spent more than 1,000 hours on patrol with officers doing field research. At best, he added, that can look like police viewing themselves as sheepdogs; at worst, he said, that imagery takes on the form of the Punisher, the fictional Marvel Comics vigilante who uses extrajudicial force against criminals.

「這種形象直接將軍官等同於戰士、士兵，他們可能正在與某些敵人作戰——這在警務領域相對普遍，」塞拉-阿雷瓦洛說，他與警察一起巡邏了1000 多個小時，進行實地研究。他補充說，這最多看起來就像警察將自己視為牧羊犬；他說，在最壞的情況下，圖像會呈現出懲罰者的形式，懲罰者是漫威漫畫中虛構的義務警員，對罪犯使用法外武力。

Another coin, for LMPD’s robbery unit, features a balaclava alongside one of the Ten Commandments: “thou shalt not steal.” On the other side, the fleur-de-lis of the LMPD logo is partially obscured by a red bandana hung in a way that mimics how a person would wear one across their face to hide their identity. Two downward-facing handguns straddle the sides of the fleur-de-lis.

另一枚硬幣是為 LMPD 的搶劫部門設計的，上面有一個巴拉克拉法帽，旁邊刻著十誡之一：“不可偷竊。”另一方面，LMPD 標誌的百合花部分被紅色頭巾遮蓋，其懸掛方式模仿了人們將頭巾戴在臉上以隱藏身份的方式。兩把朝下的手槍橫跨在百合花的兩側。

Another coin for sale on eBay— which The Courier Journal did not see referenced in the emails obtained through open records — echoes that Biblical theme and portrays LMPD officers as God’s avengers.

eBay 上出售的另一枚硬幣（《信使日報》在透過公開記錄獲得的電子郵件中沒有看到提及）呼應了聖經主題，並將 LMPD 官員描繪成上帝的復仇者。

“If you do evil — be afraid,” reads the Major Crimes Division coin. It then quotes the rest of Romans 13:4: “For we do not bear the sword in vain, we are ministers of god, agents of wrath to deliver vengeance to those who do evil.”

重案組硬幣上寫著：“如果你作惡，就要害怕。”然後它引用了《羅馬書》13:4的其餘部分：“我們並不是徒然拿著刀劍，我們是神的使者，是憤怒的使者，要向作惡的人報應。”

As first reported by LEO Weekly in 2022, a 2017 LMPD firearms training slideshow used that same Bible verse.

正如《LEO Weekly》於 2022 年首次報導的那樣，2017 年 LMPD 槍械訓練幻燈片也使用了相同的聖經經文。

Sierra-Arévalo said there are “certainly” components of racial inequality and police taking a “good guys and bad guys” approach in challenge coin imagery, including ones The Courier Journal showed him. However, he believes images the public could potentially find problematic are created mostly out of ignorance.

塞拉-阿雷瓦洛表示，「肯定」存在種族不平等的因素，警方在挑戰硬幣圖像中採取「好人和壞人」的方式，包括《信使日報》向他展示的圖像。然而，他認為公眾可能認為有問題的圖像大多是出於無知而產生的。

“A lot of it is frankly driven by dudes doing stuff without thinking too hard about it,” he said. “It’s guys left to their own devices doing stuff that they think looks cool, and which gives them a sense of being cool, or high-speed, or super tactical. That also explains why soldiers do a lot of things … it’s an appeal towards masculinity and

「坦白說，這很大程度上是由那些沒有經過深思熟慮的人做的事情推動的，」他說。 「人們用自己的設備做他們認為看起來很酷的事情，這給了他們一種很酷、或高速、或超級戰術的感覺。這也解釋了為什麼士兵會做很多事情……這是對男性氣質的吸引力和