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Selling Police Badges to the Public - No way!
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by Swan | March 27, 2009 at 11:33 am
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There is something wrong with allowing fake/real police badges to be bought by the public. Each day, as a news junkie and writer, I scan dozens of headlines in my 80 or more RSS feeds. Then I mentally classify them, sifting through the stories to determine whether or not I want to write about them.
What goes through my head as I choose a story, is:
Junk / Hot News / Rare news / Holy hell - can that be true?! The latter does not include UFOs, miracles, etc., rather, it includes legitimate news that is difficult to believe but has distinct proof to back it up.
My article today, falls into the bolded classification above. I stumbled upon a website that sells collectible law enforcement badges. I certainly do not claim to be an expert on these or the legal badges, but I do know that if someone came to my door, dressed appropriately and flashed one of those badges to me, I might be inclined to trust them.
The badges in question are:
- Deputy United States Marshal;
- Computer Forensics, Agent;
- Executive Body Guard;
- Crime Scene Investigation;
- Sergeant Los Angeles
- CIA badges and clothing;
- Police accessories - belt buckles, key rings etc;
- Police Counter Terrorism Homefront Security;
- Lieutenant-City of New York Police.
......... and many others.
On the website 'Collectible Badges' there is what I call, a 'save our butts' sentence that says:
Gold & Silver Plated Collectible Badges - Badges are for entertainment, collecting or movie prop use.
I admit that there are a few badges that can only be taken tongue in cheek, such as 'Elvis Presley, Chief Deputy Shelby County', but the others that I've mentioned would definitely have fooled me - especially since I've only been in the country around 9 years and had next to nothing to do with any police.
How many other people could be fooled? That number is probably in the vicinity of many thousands. If the badges had simply been tin replicas, I could say they might be identifiable as copies, but the fact that they are silver or gold plated, gives them a true look of authenticity.
If someone came to Mr/Mrs Average's door, showed them one of these badges at the door and asked to come in, many people would allow them access, even if the intruder was not wearing a uniform and claimed to be under cover.
Consider something like the following:
"Hello Ma'am, we're investigating a murder in the area and interviewing anyone who might have heard anything, or were in the area at the time."
Having found the first website, I did a search online, to see if there were any other companies trading on the internet, selling the same merchandise.
I found so many that I was truly floored.
Lawman Badge C. Quality Custom Badges for Professionals.
These people actually do sell their badges to members of the police force:
Custom designed and manufactured quality police badges for your police agency.
Serving the needs of professional Police Agencies all over world, Lawman Badge provides the highest quality Police Badges available. [...]
Serving the needs of professional Police Agencies all over world, Lawman Badge continues to provide the highest quality Police Badges available. Our unique police badge designs, durability and outstanding appearance are unequaled in the industry.
The widest range of services are provided for creating Police Badges that cannot be ignored. Each police badge speaks for itself as it stands out from all the others and never goes unnoticed. All of our resources at Lawman Badge are aimed at creating the finest police badges to be found anywhere regardless of price.
Each police badge must look and feel distinctly refined as more than a police badge. Police badges are emblems of professionalism, authority, distinction and quality that represents the officer wearing the badge.
As always, these badges are authentic, highest quality, hallmarked, serial numbered and ORIGINAL DEPARTMENT EQUIPMENT with a certificate of authenticity hand signed by the Chief of Police authorizing you to possess this badge for your collection.A beautiful piece of law enforcement equipment, sure to be very popular with all police badge collectors.
Law Enforcement - The Roberts Company
This website sells the real deal to law enforcement. The difference between the latter and this web site is the following information:
The Roberts Company is committed to preserving the integrity of the Law enforcement profession.
Our badge wizard will assist you in selecting the different badge styles and options available. All final orders must be FAXED OR MAILED to the Roberts Company with a copy of your official ID card or a letter of authorization from your department. You MAY NOT purchase our badges directly online.
This is good wording, concise and clear.
The badges produced here are genuine and a police officer has to prove that he is employed by the police, before a sale can be made. There are many other cute items that can be bought by the public, such as police themed Christmas ornaments and music boxes.
I find this site a little more disturbing than the others. They carry similar items to the other websites, but also advertise such items as "CIA T-Shirt" and "CIA Cap".
Having never seen any of these items up close and personal, they look authentic to me (and may well be,) which begs the question - to how many other people would these items look real?
NIC Law Enforcement Supply has a comprehensive selection of badges for a wide variety of professional and personal uses.We have collectible police badges and historic badges including a diverse selection of intelligence and military institutions from around the world for the collector.
Additionally, NIC has a complete line of professional badges, and badge accessories for people whose careers require permanent identification. NIC also has a huge selection of custom badges to choose from. For more information click on the categories below or browse some of our best sellers highlighted in the featured products section.
Even Amazon is getting into the act. I assume that whatever Amazon sells is legal, but I did find a few amazing items there that triggered my "you're kidding!" radar.
Here are a few other URLs that might interest you:
I think after seeing all these websites, whether they are lawful, or not, that the only advice I can offer to the public is, if someone comes to your door professing to be police, FBI or CIA:
- Ask them for their name and ID number, politely;
- Smile and say that you'll be right back;
- CLOSE THE DOOR and call the relevant law enforcement office to verify their name and number.
Sources
Law Enforcement - The Roberts Company
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TexasBill (not verified)
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Swan
Hillsboro, Oregon, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
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anon writer (not verified)at 11:45 on March 27th, 2009
Swan,
Thanks for this story. I quickly skimmed it. Truly disturbing. (What next? Uniforms? Vehicles, perhaps? Let's hope not.) You may have mentioned this, but children would be easy "prey" for those with these badges. What a world... and getting worse, it seems, though one must try to look on the bright side. Now, back to read the story carefully.
D.
at 12:11 on March 27th, 2009
Hello there,
You know I hadn't thought about how these badges could be used on children. Shame on me.
This is truly frightening!
I'm simply unable to figure out why they are legal to sell to the public - if you find anything else out after re-reading, I'd appreciate you adding another comment with more information.
Perhaps I've missed something?
Thanks for reading the article, giving me fodder for my next nightmare and taking the time to leave a comment.
~ Swan
at 15:10 on March 28th, 2009
Happens all the time, as well as shoulder flashes. Canada is looking at banning security guard uniforms that closely resemble police uniforms.
at 19:48 on March 28th, 2009
Hello Barry,
I accept how easily Americans and Canadians can view this issue and I wonder if it's a matter of being desensitized to such news. Perhaps that is the reason why police don't shut these badge makers down but will spend the time writing parking tickets instead.
I will never understand how this can continue.
Thank you again Barry, you're always a welcome commenter to my articles.
~ Swan
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TexasBill (not verified)at 18:45 on June 1st, 2009
Swan,
A couple of tips: A real law enforcement officer will have not just a badge but an identification card, commission card, police officer's license (depending on jurisdiction and agency, they may have more than one) that will have the seal of the issuing agency and other difficult to duplicate markings. Next, a real law enforcement officer will let you examine his (or her) identification. After all, they know they're the real thing, so they have nothing to worry about. Anybody who just flashes some tin may be trying to pull a fast one. This is something you can also pass on to your children. They're entitled to see identification, too.
The CIA is a covert intelligence agency; spies generally don't advertise themselves. They do have a uniformed police agency, but you're very unlikely to be visited by them as their job is protection of agency facilities and personnel.
Badge and patch collecting is a legitimate hobby, however it is a violation of state and federal laws to use a real or fake police badge to impersonate a real law enforcement officer and it's a never-ending battle to keep the wannabees and crooks from playing cop. Most real badge companies require identification before they will make a badge of any sort, even a private investigator or security officer badge.