Law Enforcement Badge

(Discover Health and Safety)

By Cyndie Lyons and Lisa Evers

Penguin: Do three requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Learn what a police officer does and why they are important.

_____2.* Be able to identify what your local police look like.

Otter: Do four requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Penguin requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Understand what a jail or prison is. Know what a judge, jury and the court system are.

Dolphin: Do five requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Otter requirements 1 and 2, then learn about Detectives and State Police officers.

_____2.* Learn about at least three different jobs that make your police station work, either by reading about them or by visiting an actual workplace.

Butterfly: Do six requirements including two starred *

_____1.* Do Dolphin requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Learn about what the following law enforcement agencies do and what their jurisdiction is. (Know what the word jurisdiction means.)

  • Sheriff Department
  • DEA – Drug Enforcement Agency
  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
  • FDA – Food and Drug Administration
  • U. S. Marshals
  • FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement
  • CIA – Central Intelligence Agency
  • State Highway Patrol
  • TSA – Transportation Security Administration 

Eagle: Do seven requirements including two starred *

_____1.* Do Butterfly requirements 1 & 2

_____2.* Learn about what each of the following law enforcement officers do.

  • Patrol officer
  • Detective
  • SWAT
  • Police dog (K-9)
  • Sheriff and sheriff’s deputy
  • Bailiff
  • County detective
  • State trooper
  • Game wardens
  • Tribal officer
  • Indian agent
  • Correction officer
  • Probation and parole officer
  • Park ranger
  • Federal air marshal
  • Marshal and deputy marshal
  • Special agent
  • Customs Officer

Owl: Do nine requirements including the two starred *

_____1.* Do Eagle requirements 1 & 2.

_____2.* Teach someone how to do a skill from this badge or teach some knowledge about this badge to someone. You can teach kids, your spouse, seniors, anyone, just as long as you are sharing your new found knowledge. If for some reason you cannot teach what you have learned to someone else, you may choose an additional 2 optional requirements instead.

Optional Requirements:

_____3. Check out 3 books from the library to learn about 3 different Law enforcement careers or research them online.

_____4. Find out if there are any volunteer opportunities in your community that could help you prepare for the law enforcement careers you are interested in. Learn more about it and how volunteering would prepare you for that specific job field.

_____5. Spend at least 4 hours as a job shadow for someone in law enforcement. You will need to contact someone who works in the area of your choice to arrange the details. After completing your job shadow, discuss or write about your experience. Explain any likes, dislikes, difficulties, challenges, and successes you experienced. Is this still a career you’d like to consider for yourself?

_____6. Visit a police or other law enforcement museum.

_____7. Write and illustrate your own short book about law enforcement occupations. Share your book with a parent, sibling, friend, or your group.  Make a cover for your book. Decide how you will bind it.

_____8. Make a poster for at least two of the law careers you studied explaining why this occupation/career would be a good choice for you or anyone else. Illustrate your poster with any medium you choose.

_____9. Contribute to your own community by performing a simple act of service that is related to a law enforcement agency. This could be helping out at a police station, baking snacks for officers, making thank you cards, etc.

_____10. Learn the history of one of the law enforcement agencies. Who are some well-known people who have worked in this occupation? What is the first record of this job having been performed? How has it evolved and changed over the years?

_____ 11. Find out what programs there are for youth in your community that are interested in law enforcement careers. Can you participate in a ride along? Is there an Explorer program in your area? How old do you have to be to participate?

_____12. Research law enforcement in other cultures. How is it similar? How is it different?

_____ 13. Learn about how law enforcement interacts with their local community. How does law enforcement in large cities differ from that in small rural areas? How do things like race or economic status effect people’s relationship with their local law enforcement?

_____ 14. Take a field trip to a police station or have a police officer bring their squad car to your meeting location and teach you about their job.

_____ 15. Play detective games like Clue, Scotland Yard, Professor Layton, Sherlock Files or another game of the same type.

_____ 16. Brainstorm a list of Law enforcement jobs you’d like to learn about or that you think would be a good fit for you in the future. Narrow your choices to two. Interview a person who works in each of these two careers. Ask at least 5-7 well thought out questions. Be sure to ask how this person got started in this career and why they chose it. Record the answers you get on paper or with an audio recording device so you can write them down later. Be a good listener and share your information with your family, friends, or group. If you prefer, make a video of your interview and learn to edit it before presenting. Research the kind of training and/or education needed for the two careers you chose. Locate two schools for each career that provide this training/education. Compare the costs of these two schools. Are there any prerequisites before starting this training? If so, what are they? Make a list of things you can be doing now to prepare yourself for the training you need to acquire for these 2 occupations. Consider the skills, knowledge, experience and funds you could begin to gather.

_____ 17. Watch a documentary on law enforcement.