A longtime southeast Iowa law enforcement officer has now turned in his badge and ... The police department celebrated his retirement with a plaque and a going-away cake.

For more than two years, Michael Fanone’s muddied D.C. police badge was kept in a zip-top bag in an FBI evidence bin, dirt smeared across an imprint of the U.S. Capitol emblazoned on its face.

Following protocol, Wells reached into the lapel of her coat and showed her shining police badge, No. 105, to the conductor. The man looked at the object in her hand, and then at Wells herself.