Everybody Wins in Hastings Battle of Badges

With overwhelming support for Hastings police officers and firefighters at the 2026 Battle of the Badges Blood Drive on June 4, the Hastings Police Department won this year’s competition with 70 votes, compared to 55 votes for Hastings Fire & Rescue.

This is the second consecutive victory for the Hastings Police Department. 

There were 118 lifesaving units collected including seven Power Red donations (platelets). Power Red donations count as a second vote, for a total of 125 votes. 

Donors were able to choose whether to support Team Fire or Team Police with a voting ticket. Not every donor voted for one of the two city departments.

As part of Battle of the Badges, Hastings also competes against Grand Island and Kearney. 

Hastings won the competition between the cities. Kearney collected 90 lifesaving units: 53 for fire and 37 for law enforcement; Grand Island collected 53 units: 43 for law enforcement and 10 for fir