Many people enjoy dressing up as their favorite character from television and movies. While many do so on Halloween, some people enjoy dressing up to attend fan conventions like the San Diego Comic Con. There are many of these conventions around the world, and many of them are held in the spring and summer. While San Diego may be the largest, there are also major comic con conventions in New York, Dallas, Chicago, and other cities. Some are aimed at specific fans of certain shows or movies, while some celebrate comics, television, or video games in general. If you're going to one of these conventions and want to dress like your favorite character, you may need to buy some patches for your outfit.
If you want to dress up like a character who is a police officer, medic, sheriff, or other official, you'll need some patches that resemble the ones these wear. Some places sell actual recreations of the patches, while others are more generic. For example, the iron on Sheriff Shield Patch resembles the patches sheriffs wear on the shoulders of their uniform jacket. It doesn't include any identifying town, city, or state name, so it can work for any costume.
Note that these patches are not allowed by law to look exactly like a real sheriff's patch because then a person could impersonate an officer. However, patches that include a fake town name on them are fine, especially since these patches are usually designed to look a little different from real law enforcement patches.
