ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

United States law enforcement decorations

Police officers are people who work to keep our communities safe. Sometimes they do really brave things like stopping a bad guy or saving someone's life. When they do these really brave things, the leaders in their police department might give them a special award to say "great job!" These awards are called decorations.

There are many different types of decorations that police officers can earn. They each have a different meaning and show that the officer did something really special. Some decorations are for people who were injured or killed while they were doing their job. Others are for people who helped catch a really bad criminal. There are even decorations for officers who are really good at their job and do it with a good attitude.

The decorations are like little badges that the officer can wear on their uniform to show other people how special they are. They make the officer feel proud of what they did and help them remember that they are doing an important job. When you see a police officer with a lot of decorations on their uniform, it means they have done a lot of really brave things!