-->'''Nick:''' I'll tell you guys what I'm gonna do! I'll tell you what! I'm gonna get even with every rotten cop in this city!
-->'''Paolo:''' Yeah, me too!
-->'''Guido:''' How you gonna do it, Nick? How you gonna do it?
-->'''Nick:''' I'm gonna…turn in my badge!
-->'''Guido:''' Yeah! I'm gonna burn my uniform!…
-->— The Firesign Theatre, ''How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?''

That cop has always been a loose cannon, but this time he's stepped over the line. He is ordered by [[DaChief his boss]] to turn in his badge and gun, and then go home on an extended "vacation." This is sometimes accompanied by an InsigniaRipOffRitual.

The cop ignores this directive and finishes tracking the perp down. Sometimes, it's because he's a CowboyCop. Other times, ItsPersonal. When the bad guy is eventually caught, the cop's boss never reprimands the rogue cop and sometimes even admits he was wrong. There won't even be a McCloudSpeech about all the regulations the cop broke on this excursion, not the least of which being ignoring an order -- probably because he technically wasn't acting as a cop, but merely [[VigilanteMan breaking the law as a regular citizen...]]

Variation: the cop was never actually off the force but was merely pretending to be, with his superiors' knowledge, to fool a bad guy, sometimes another cop (see: FakeDefector, which is a case of NotHimself).

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In ''DeathNote'', most of the taskforce spend the Yotsuba arc doing this under L's supervision, after they're pulled from the Kira case.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Brian Dennehy's character in ''F/X'' is told to turn in his badge and does so. Then he steals his superior's badge.
* Happened to FBI Agent Clarice Starling in ''Hannibal'', the sequel to ''{{The Silence of the Lambs}}''. Except in this case she had followed every procedure to the letter and was suspended because a rival agent planted obviously fake evidence against her in her office. Apparently everybody else in the FBI is either corrupt or incompetent.
* Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Krauss do this at the end of ''[[{{Hellboy}} Hellboy II: The Golden Army]]''.
* Parodied in ''TheItalianJob'', where Rob, whilst trying to drive through the city as fast as possible, is trapped behind an actor rehearsing the phrase "give me your badge and your weapon; I don't want to see you anywhere near this case" in such a variety of diferent voices and emphases he fails to notice the green light.
* Inspector Li from John Woo's ''The Killer'' is taken off the case of the HitmanWithAHeart that he's beginning to develop a bond with when he completely botches his attempt to capture him at the airport and brings in the wrong guy, allowing the killer to get away with his blinded girlfriend. He's taken off the case because the superintendent is convinced that Li is siding with the suspect rather than trying to bring him in.
* Bud White from ''[[LAConfidential L.A. Confidential]]'' fits the brutal-cop part of the trope perfectly, but his TurnInYourBadge moment is undercut by [[spoiler: the fact that DaChief only did it to get leverage over White when he recruited him as muscle for a criminal enterprise.]]
* {{Lampshade}}d by Danny Madigan in ''LastActionHero''.
-->'''Danny:''' He only took your badge, because you destroyed more of the city than usual.
* In ''LicenceToKill'', JamesBond pretty much turns in his badge to go after the iguana-stroking villain who dumped his best friend into a shark pool.
* The ENTIRE POLICE FORCE in ''{{RoboCop}} 3''.
* A character in ''Wild Things'' is asked to do this after his second lawful shooting, due to the (well-founded) fear of DaChief that with that kind of luck, the shootings might not be so lawful after all. Of course, this isn't where the consequences end...

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* DCI Jack Spratt of JasperFforde's ''NurseryCrime'' series is stated in the book-within-a-book ''Bumper Book of Berkshire Records'' to have been suspended over 262 times in his career, only one of which led to higher action (a reprimand). This is mainly because both he and his supervisor are GenreSavvy, and his supervisor makes a point of suspending him at least once per case more for dramatic effect than anything else.
* Halt from John Flanagan's ''[[RangersApprentice Ranger's Apprentice]]'' deliberately creates a situation where he'll get banished from TheKingdom so he can save his apprentice only to get misty-eyed when he must turn in his [[strike:ranger badge]] oak leaf necklace to the authorities as well.
* Subverted in TerryPratchett's {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/{{Men at Arms}}'', when Lord Vetinari takes Vimes off the case and demands that he turn in his badge. It eventually becomes clear to the reader that [[InvokedTrope he is doing this to make ]]''[[InvokedTrope sure ]]''[[InvokedTrope Vimes solves it]], though Vetinari goes a bit too far and drives Vimes into a TenMinuteRetirement. The trope was played more or less straight in the earlier novel ''[[Discworld/GuardsGuards Guards! Guards!]]'', when Lupin Wonse takes Vimes' badge.
* Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus is frequently suspended from cases for various reasons throughout the series.
* Subverted in Liz Williams' Inspector Chen novel ''Snake Agent''. About halfway through, Chen has a meeting with DaChief, who tells him explicitly that he is ''not'' going to take Chen off the case, because he knows full well that Chen is the only person able and willing to handle it. (The scene also features Chen uttering the words "Go to Hell, sir" -- as a literal and truthful response to the question "What do you intend to do next?")
* Meyer Landsman of [[TheYiddishPolicemensUnion The Yiddish Policemen's Union]] is ordered to turn in his badge and gun as a result of his CowboyCop methods. When he still goes investigating the case, he uses [[TitleDrop his membership card in the titular union]] to justify his questioning.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Happens to Jack Bauer on ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' at least once a season, forcing him to "go rogue" for 2-3 episodes before CTU realizes he was right all along.
* Kate in season 2 of ''{{Angel}}''.
* Det. Mike Cellucci is asked for his badge in ''BloodTies'' S2 finale. Considering he's been threatened with it for two seasons and finally [[spoiler: left a hostage crisis to battle Astaroth with Vicki and Henry]], it's completely unsurprising.
* Subverted in an episode of ''ColdCase'', where Det. Valens goes overboard on a suspect after suffering a personal tragedy and is ordered to turn in his gun (but not his badge) to his boss. Not only was he ''not'' taken off the force (it was only a suggestion for a leave of absence that Valens mistook for a suspension), but he also doesn't go off on his own, during his leave.
* Subverted on ''{{CSI}}'', when Warrick Brown forces Detective Jim Brass to hand over his badge, but only so he can analyze it and find the evidence to clear Brass of the crime he was accused of, before Brass gets it back at the end of the episode.
* Parodied with Laser Tag in the pre-credits sequence of an episode of ''{{How I Met Your Mother}}''.
* Subverted in an episode of ''JoanOfArcadia'': Will ''was'' being a loose cannon due to stress from recent events, and nearly shot a little girl; he's slowly talked into accepting the break from work. In a later episode, back on the force and fresh from a successful bust, he's interviewed by reporters who try to shove him into the [=McCloud=] role, which he gets an ego trip from until his coworkers call him on it.
* ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': 90% of the episodes starring Elliot Stabler.
** And after the Season 7 Finale, LawAndOrderCriminalIntent's [[spoiler: Bobby Goren. The scene is inverted in the season 8 premiere.]]
*DCI Gene Hunt gets suspended in both ''{{Life on Mars}}'' [[spoiler: accused of murdering a boxing promoter]] and ''{{Ashes to Ashes}}'' [[spoiler: Gene and Ray attack a suspect and are reported by Alex, and Gene gets put on paid leave]], which means, of course, that he was just being Gene!
* Subverted in ''NewTricks''; although he's not technically a police officer anymore, when Gerry is briefly sidelined from an investigation owing to his possible old-time connection to a gangster who has become the focus of the investigation, he angrily ''offers'' his resignation, only for his boss (Sandra) to flatly refuse it; she doesn't want his 'badge', but at the same time she can't reasonably have him in the investigation.
** Another time, after another chewing out from Sandra, Gerry offers her his badge yet again -- except, of course, being a retired policeman, he no longer ''has'' a badge, so he has to make do with his Blockbuster video club card.
* Subverted in the ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "Shades of Grey", in which Jack O'Neill (a MilitaryMaverick) is forced to retire after stealing a piece of advanced technology from the Tollan, and then proceeds to collaborate with Colonel Maybourne and his rogue NID team involved in similar activities. In the end, it is revealed that all of this was [[spoiler:a ploy by O'Neill and General Hammond to expose the NID's mole in the SGC, who turned out to be Colonel Makepeace]].
* Occurs during the first series finale of ''{{Torchwood}}'' to Owen after he opened the Rift and caused what appeared to be irreparable damage. It was later subverted in the second series, [[spoiler: once again with Owen]]. The subversion was that [[spoiler:he was asked to turn in his badge, but because of the danger to others, but to himself - he had died and was brought back to life, and could no longer heal]].
* Fox Mulder (''TheXFiles''), at least three times.
* Used with Wayne Rigsby on ''TheMentalist'', but quickly taken back once Patrick Jane realized that he had been hypnotized and wasn't responsible for his actions.
** Used again in the second season with Lisbon after she was accused of murder and failed a polygraph test. And this time, she really had to turn it in.
* "Mr {{Monk}} Gets Fired": Monk accidentally deletes important police information, so the commisioner revokes his licence.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: New Media ]]

* Parodied in this [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41923 Onion Statshot]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In the ''AceAttorney'' series, Detective Gumshoe [[spoiler: loses his job in both the DS-exclusive fifth case of the first game and the fourth case of the second game. He makes it through the third game without getting fired once.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* Played with in a long-running cop show parody on ''Checkerboard Nightmare''. The trope is so routine that when the chief pulls it more often than usual, the title character protests that "we've already turned in our week's supply of badges!"

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''AngryBeavers'', "Dagski and Norb" (parodying ''Starsky and Hutch''). The titular cops report to their superior about seeing a car that looked just like theirs... and end up turning in their badges anyhow because there was a report about "something bad going down" and their car being seen leaving the scene of the crime.
* Happens to Montoya in the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "P.O.V.". (Bullock and an incidental character, Wilkes, are also forced to turn in their badges, but only Montoya keeps working on the case.)
* In ''FamilyGuy'' {{The Movie}}, Tom Tucker is fired from the news station and had to give back all of his station items, including his ''mustache''.
* In at least one episode of ''{{Fillmore}}'', the title character has to turn in his Safety Patrol sash.
* The second variation of this trope happened with Elisa on ''{{Gargoyles}}''. Turns out she was going undercover to catch Dracon.
* Officer Mike Brikowski from ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' is a fat, lazy old cop who believes that the girls are a waste of space who just take work away from "hard-working" policemen like him. In the end he is fired for his laziness and forced to turn in his badge and reflective sunglasses, but for some reason is allowed to keep his firearm as "a little souvenir". He also has to give up his precious donut. He swears vengeance on the Powerpuffs, which he goes after unsuccessfully through the episode.
* Done, [[TheSimpsonsDidIt as everything is]], on ''TheSimpsons'' when Apu is fired from the Kwik-E-Mart. He is told to hand in his pricing gun (which he keeps in a shoulder holster) and his backup (kept in an ankle holster).
* Parodied in ''SouthPark'' when Mr Garrison is fired.
-->'''Mr Garrison:''' I suppose you'll be wanting my badge and gun...
-->'''Chairman:''' Mr Garrison, most teachers do not carry a gun!
-->'''Mr Garrison:''' Oh, sorry. So I can keep it then?
* Parodied again near the end of ''We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story'', when [[spoiler:Stubbs the Clown resigns from Prof. Screweyes' circus and hands in his props. All his props: "Here's my shoes, my nose, my horn, my buzzer, my fake arm, my bug-eye glasses, my backstage passes, my hat, my rabbit, his backstage passes, my fake fangs, a few birds, my pogo stick, my donkey ears, my extending tongue gag, my rubber chicken... ya can't even get these anymore... my lucky whale tooth, and a giant clam that opens to reveal the American flag held by a mermaid and her normal brother Richard!"]] If you thought reading the description was funny, it's even better in the movie.
* Grizzlikov, the ObstructiveBureaucrat supreme of SHUSH, ends up getting let go by DaChief J Gander Hooter, in favour of a squad trained and inspired by CostumedCrimefighter (and title character) DarkwingDuck in one episode. [[spoiler: It's the variant, as mentioned above; he gets recruited by the villains and works as TheMole to sabotage their big design, all according to Hooter's plan.]]
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