[TheCartographer]

Simply owning a fake badge doesn't even prove intent, let alone being actual evidence that it happened

Well, not in the US. Many other countries take a dim view towards citizens owning anything that even remotely resembles the accruements of official power and authority.

[icebraining]

He may have broken the law by possessing it, but that's not the same as "playing cop". What he actually did doesn't change according to the jurisdiction, only its legal status.