This year's Battle of the Badges between the Lincoln Police Department (LPD) and Lincoln Fire & Rescue (LFR) went down to the wire. With the score tied at five wins apiece, bragging rights for who has the best blood donors was at stake. And, again this year, LPD claimed the title!

"All of us know how important it is to have blood available for our community", said Michele Selvage, volunteer blood drive coordinator for LPD. "In the end, it is the patient who really wins", Selvage added.

This year's competition was the 11th time the two groups have gone head-to-head in donating blood at the Nebraska Community Blood Bank (NCBB). However, this is the first time the competition has been only a week-long event and involved specific blood drives across Lincoln.

A total of 128 units were collected, with 25 percent coming from first-time blood donors. According to Pat Borer, Deputy Fire Chief and volunteer blood drive coordinator for LFR, This has been the best battle so far. We might not have won, but the competition got a lot of people out to donate.

Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler awarded the trophy Nov. 4 at a grill-out hosted by Ayars & Ayars, Inc. and NCBB. Lunch was served to nearly 200 people including a number of LFR, LPD and City-County employees.

For more information about the Nebraska Community Blood Bank visit our website or become a fan on Facebook.