California police chiefs and sheriffs could be violating state criminal law if they issue honorary badges to members of the public, the state attorney general concluded in an opinion released Tuesday.
The decision came 15 months after The Times reported that Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle and San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Mike Ramos had issued badges and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca had issued identification cards to dozens of political supporters, creating an impression that they were legally empowered.
Law enforcement officials said the opinion resolved apparent ambiguities in state law and would have a broad and immediate effect. For many years, law enforcement and local and state government officials have issued badges to the public and to employees who were not sworn peace officers.
Officials think that the opinion from lawyers for Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown could apply to such diverse personnel as animal control officers and courtroom clerks who are issued badges by their agencies.
The opinion, written by Deputy Atty. Gen. Marc J. Nolan, said California law prohibits anyone from giving a badge "that would deceive an ordinary reasonable person into believing that it is authorized for use by a peace officer" to anyone who is not a sworn peace officer.
"An honorary badge should be as distinguishable as possible from badges used by peace officers," Nolan wrote. "The more an honorary badge resembles an authorized peace officer badge in shape, markings and other indicia ... the more likely the badge will deceive an ordinary reasonable person and the more likely that a person furnishing or displaying the badge will be found to have violated" the law.
In recent years, several people have been prosecuted for, or admitted to, displaying honorary badges during traffic stops or other encounters with law enforcement.
Two of Doyle's political contributors told The Times that they displayed their honorary badges during encounters with law enforcement. One used it to gain access to a secure area of the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, the other showed it to police officers serving a search warrant at his business.
A Compton man was arrested in December after allegedly showing Redondo Beach police officers a badge issued to him by Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton).
