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Law enforcement badges are worn by various agents of the law to distinguish them and provide additional information to the public. They vary in design and can be personalized with an officer’s name and unique number. Badge collecting is a growing hobby, but there are laws regulating their use.
Agents of the law vary, as do their duties and responsibilities. Many have powers that are limited in certain ways. To help the public identify one type of agent from another, they usually wear uniforms that distinguish them. Law enforcement badges are likely to be part of those uniforms. Agents who don’t have other easily identifiable clothing, such as detectives or FBI agents, should also have a badge.
Sometimes people need to know more than just the type of police officer they are dealing with. Sometimes people might want specific information about an officer. Law enforcement badges are normally designed to provide the public with additional information.
Usually, they are personalized with a unique number that identifies one officer from another. The officer’s name is likely to be revealed on a small plaque. Often the government agency that issued the badge and the jurisdiction are also listed. For example, in the United States, an NYPD officer’s badge should show NYPD.
The design of law enforcement badges and the symbols on them vary from agency to agency or country or region to region. Firefighters in New Jersey may have completely different badges than firefighters in Pennsylvania. While many departments stick to common templates, this is their choice. There are no rules that all badges have to look a certain way.
Even within a department, law enforcement badges can vary. The differences usually occur based on rank. A sheriff is likely to have a different badge than his deputies, for example.
Law enforcement badges are now standard for most law enforcement officers. It hasn’t always been like this. The history of badges begins at different points for different agencies and in different countries. For many law enforcement agencies, this story adds to the intrinsic value of the badges they issue.
In the United States, federal law enforcement agencies to which badges are issued include park rangers, FBI agents, border patrolmen, customs officers, and US marshals. State law enforcement agencies that wear badges include game wardens, sheriffs, firefighters, and state troopers. Some people who are not law enforcers also possess law enforcement badges.
Thanks in large part to the accessibility made possible by the internet, badge collecting is a growing hobin. In 2000, a United States federal law went into effect regarding the collection of law enforcement badges. This law makes it a felony to ship, possess, and use law enforcement badges or replica badges when used for any purpose other than as a keepsake, for keeping in a collection, for decorative purposes, for a dramatic presentation, or for any other recreational purpose.
