By Shanna Campbell · Updated August 29, 2026 · Statutes verified August 29, 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Missouri is the lenient outlier among Midwestern badge laws. Under Revised Statutes of Missouri section 575.120, false impersonation is a class B misdemeanor — and it rises only to a class A misdemeanor when the person represents themselves to be a law enforcement officer. No felony tier exists in the statute at all, which puts Missouri in contrast with neighbors like Indiana, where impersonating an officer is a Level 6 felony, and Mississippi, which moved to a felony in 2025. Missouri’s statute also demands more than words: the false representation must be paired with an act in the pretended capacity or with causing someone to rely on the pretended authority.
What RSMo 575.120 Requires
| Element | What the state must show |
|---|---|
| False representation | Claiming to be a public servant (or a licensed professional) with the purpose of inducing reliance on pretended official authority |
| Plus an act | Performing an act in the pretended capacity, or causing another person to act in reliance on the pretended authority |
| Offense level | Class B misdemeanor; class A misdemeanor when the impersonated role is a law enforcement officer |
| Typical penalties | Class B: up to 6 months and $1,000. Class A: up to 1 year and $2,000 |
The two-part structure matters in real cases. A costume, a movie prop, or a badge in a display case is not an offense; a fake badge flashed to talk your way past a security desk is. The statute’s third prong covers a different fraud entirely — giving someone else’s identity when arrested — and pairs it with an unusual remedy: a person whose identity was falsely used in arrest or conviction records may move for expungement and correction under section 610.123. Missouri is one of the few states to build a victim-repair mechanism directly into its impersonation law.
What Missouri Does Not Regulate
Missouri has no statewide statute governing badge manufacture, sale, possession, or replica sizing. There is no equivalent of Indiana’s manufacturing-permission law or Maryland’s article-possession ban. The practical consequence is that Missouri’s legal line runs entirely through conduct: what you do with a badge, not whether you own one. Collectors, families commissioning tribute pieces, and honorably retired officers keeping their issue face no badge-specific state prohibition — though individual departments control their own property policies for issued badges.
Departments and Authorized Orders
With no manufacturing statute, Missouri agency orders are governed by ordinary procurement and by each department’s design authority. Missouri’s 114 counties and hundreds of municipal agencies each control their own shield and star patterns, and orders for department police badge orders in Missouri proceed on the agency’s authorization alone. The state’s large corrections system sits on the same footing: the Department of Corrections and county jails issue their own credentials, and corrections officer badge designs follow facility specifications rather than any statutory template.
How Missouri Compares
Stack Missouri against its neighbors and the spread is striking. Indiana prosecutes law enforcement impersonation as a felony and regulates badge manufacturing with a written-permission requirement and a size-based safe harbor — details in our Indiana badge law guide. Mississippi, long the lightest-touch state in the region, made impersonating an officer a felony effective July 1, 2025, a shift covered in the Mississippi badge requirements guide. Missouri, so far, has stayed put: misdemeanor-only, act-required, no badge-article regulation. Anyone reading a national roundup that says “impersonating police is a felony” should know Missouri is a standing counterexample.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is impersonating a police officer a felony in Missouri?
No. Under RSMo 575.120 it is a class A misdemeanor — the only enhancement the statute provides. Other charges (fraud, kidnapping, weapons offenses) can raise the stakes when they accompany the impersonation.
Is it illegal to own or display a police badge in Missouri?
No state statute prohibits owning, collecting, or displaying badges. The offense is falsely representing yourself as an officer and acting on it.
Does saying “I’m a cop” violate the statute by itself?
Generally no. The statute requires performing an act in the pretended capacity or causing someone to act in reliance on the false authority — representation plus conduct.
What if someone used my identity when they were arrested?
RSMo 575.120 recognizes you as a victim of false impersonation and points to section 610.123, which lets you move for expungement and correction of the false arrest or conviction records.
Do Missouri departments face any state rules when ordering badges?
No badge-specific statute applies. Orders run on agency authorization and normal procurement; design control rests with each department.
Sources
Revised Statutes of Missouri §575.120 (false impersonation — penalties), via revisor.mo.gov and Justia’s 2024 code edition; RSMo §610.123 (expungement procedure). Statutes verified August 29, 2026.