Lucky, Heroic, Profane: The Story of N.Y.P.D. Shield No. 13558

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A New York City police badge with a number (13558) and a nameplate, Almanzar.
Shield No. 13558 today. Does anything about the “3” look strange? Amir Hamja for The New York Times

Lucky, Heroic, Profane: The Story of N.Y.P.D. Shield No. 13558

A history of New York, as told through a single badge and the seven policemen who wore it.

By Michael Wilson
March 8, 2026
Updated 8:22 a.m. ET

The police shield was marked No. 13558, and Patrolman Michael McCrory wore it over his long coat the night it attained a sort of mythical status in 1965. He had been on the beat in Upper Manhattan for about a year, and he liked the work, but he was ready to call it a night. He had a date later. ... As if the universe was weighing in on this plan, a cabby flagged him down on West 121st Street and pointed to a man standing nearby. This guy is drunk and won’t pay his fare, the cabby said. Officer McCrory, 25, with one eye on his watch, suggested that the man pay up, and everyone go their separate ways. Sound good?

The drunk passenger cursed and pulled a gun. ... The flash of the point-blank gunshot was blinding, and Officer McCrory was blown backward. He went down hard. ... He wasn’t sure where he’d been hit, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t dead. ... Only later would he notice his police shield and how it had changed, the brand-new dent scarring the number 3.

This is the story of a single police shield. Officers of the New York Police Department remember well the day they were first handed their own shield and sidearm, a milestone simply known as Gun and Shield Day. But the shield is strictly a loan, and years later, these older officers face an inverted, bittersweet moment, when they must give it back, after a promotion or upon retirement. ... Each shield then goes back into the system. They start over. A hunk of metal one officer wore for 20 or more years is pinned to another’s chest on a future Gun and Shield Day. ... Police records show that seven policemen have carried Shield No. 13558 over the last 100 years. They wore it to precincts all over Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs, through Prohibition, protest and unrest; the crack epidemic; Sept. 11 and today.

The story of Shield No. 13558 is a sort of vest-pocket history of the Police Department over the course of a century. It is a cool, metallic constant amid the sea changes to the city, the department and the job itself. It is present in the background of the war stories — the high-flying rescues and subway corpses — and the flaws of the officers who wore it.

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Michael Wilson, who covers New York City, has been a Times reporter for more than two decades.