We as law enforcement officers wear badges, patches and insignia to identify ourselves as the Police. In the online community just as in our cities, counties and states we can offer this identification simply by using these badges as our avatars to identify ourselves as officers. This serves many purposes:

First, if someone is in trouble while in the online community the badge is quickly identified and help can be obtained just like getting a “flag-down” in our real communities.

Second, while a predator is seeking to commit online assaults, looking to prey on children or involved with cyber-bullying, the badge could and probably will act as a deterrent against the person who has a badge(s) in their friends list.

Another benefit is if you, like me, have tweens and teens regularly using online communities, you can protect your own by having your badge prominently displayed on their pages, as we are almost always on our kids top friends list.

Finally, by displaying our badge we can identify other law enforcement officers showing our pride in the profession we have chosen for our lifelong career.

These are just some thoughts and hopes from one old cop to all the other cops out there trying to make online communities safer for our kids and our communities.

Major B