LMPD says it didn't produce new challenge coins showing officers in riot gear in front of burning Louisville skyline

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Police said challenge coins circulating in the city showing the skyline in flames and officers in riot gear weren't made by the department.

The coins show officers standing in front of downtown Louisville, flames rising high above the buildings, with the words "Hold The Line" and "The Strongest Steel Is Forged In the Hottest Fire." The coin also shows the official LMPD seal above the words "Civil Unrest 2020."

LMPD spokesman Sgt. John Bradley said the department "had nothing to do with this coin" and that it was produced by a "private individual."

An active police officer sent an email on his department account Oct. 26 to all LMPD employees selling the coin for $10 apiece, according to the email, obtained by WDRB News. The officer, who said in the email he was retiring at the end of that month, said the coins would be finished in time for Christmas.

"The coin is designed to commemorate the 2020 civil unrest that occurred in our city," the former officer wrote.

Pastor Timothy Findley Jr. of Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center, who has coordinated protests over the March 13 shooting death of Breonna Taylor at the hands of LMPD officers, called the coins "incredibly offensive."

"You have people that see that and say, 'Wow, they are using our trauma as a rally call. As a moment of inspiration.' That's a bigger issue," Findley said. "The reason for hold the line — so he says, the person that made this — they forget this is in the wake of Breonna Taylor. We're still mourning. We're still grieving. We're still hurting that nothing's happened. There was more consequence for drywall than her life."

Bradley said "any person in this country is free to privately purchase what novelty items they choose free of government involvement or intervention just as the books, cookies, clothing, or cars they decide to buy."

A representative of River City FOP Lodge 614, the union representing LMPD, said it also has nothing to do with the coin.

With or without the department's direct involvement in the coins, Findley called the coin "another slap in the face in a long year of just ridiculous moves by LMPD."

"The reason why, for me, that doesn't go far enough is because the LMPD insignia — the patch — is used on there. That's a person putting something on that piece of jewelry or whatever that is that feels emboldened enough to do that," he said. "... That speaks of the culture of LMPD. That, even though you're saying you have nothing to do with that it's just in a long line of problematic behavior from a police department that's been caught up in scandal and misbehavior."

Addressing community members who are upset about the coin, Bradley told WDRB News, "I think that's a conversation that's best had with whomever made this coin."

"People are entitled to their opinions," Bradley added. "I suspect the person that made this coin may have some refute to that. I do not."