Those who were in Washington, DC or Philadelphia recently and thought they spotted a symbol of home were not mistaken. The Dartmouth Police Department’s official patch has gone on a road trip.

The local program is called Patch-It-Forward, and the objective is simple: give the department patch to someone to take on their travels, snap a few photos of it in interesting places, and hand it off to someone else to repeat the cycle. The goal is to see how long, and how far, the patch can travel.

Several weeks ago, the department detailed the challenge and put out a call for the very first participant, according to Dartmouth Police Detective Kyle Costa. A few hours later, Ellie Velosa Camarao stepped up and volunteered. After visiting the police station to pick up the patch, she brought it along with her through Philadelphia to Washington, DC. She took photos of the patch in front of landmarks including Capitol Hill and Philadelphia City Hall.

The last reported sighting of the patch was in front of the White House on August 24, but after her DC visit, Camarao plans to hand off the patch to her brother-in-law, who works as a pilot.

Costa said he’s happy to see the positive community response to Patch-It-Forward, adding that community engagement is important to the department.

“Our goal at the police department is to engage with the community more often and more positively,” Costa said. “We want them to feel like they’re a part of the police department.”

This isn’t the first time the police patch has hit the road: officers often take photos of the patch when they visit interesting places, such as diving training in Florida, Costa said. He said this is where the idea for Patch-It-Forward originated.

To follow the latest patch sightings, visit the Dartmouth Police Department on Facebook.