When North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem swore in the state's newest "peace officer" Friday, he apparently didn't have all the information he needed about this new guy.

Stenehjem thought everything was in order, qualification-wise.

He didn't know until after the ceremony that newly badged North Dakota Honorary Peace Officer Ethan Earl doesn't like doughnuts.

"Maybe we better re-evaluate," Stenehjem said with a laugh.

But good luck getting that badge back.

Or rather badges.

The local law enforcement community showered their shortest officer ever - and the state's first-ever honorary peace officer, officials said - with badges, certificates, hats, shirts, a jacket and other items. And they spent some of the day showing him the ropes.

Ethan, 6, bald, with only part of his right leg left, was diagnosed with bone cancer earlier this year. He wants to be a cop someday.

His mother, Glenda Ethan, 29, of Underwood, on Friday tried to explain how much that dream means to him.

She related how at a past visit for medical treatment in Minnesota, her son, in the midst of a massive sight of 1,200 motorcycles and motorcyclists involved in a fundraising rally for the Ronald McDonald House, was fixating on something else:The one cop car in the midst of it.

When Bismarck Police Officer John Brocker heard about Ethan Earl in April - about how Ethan, despite what he's been through, always started the morning by telling his mom that this was his "lucky day"- he decided to do something for him.

"When he's 21, I'm hoping he's wearing blue with the rest of us,"said Brocker, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter, on Friday.

Doing something for him became things.

Making him the state's first-ever honorary peace officer was the main goal.

The day culminated with Stenehjem swearing in Ethan at a Friday afternoon ceremony at the state Capitol's Memorial Hall, which was attended by an audience of about 50 people, including representatives from local police and sheriff's departments. Those reps then held a Fraternal Order of Policemeeting, voting to make the honorary peace officer an FOP member.

"Thank you is not enough for what you're doing for my son today," Ethan's father, Glenn Earl, said to the crowd.

That was the end of the day. But the itinerary started hours before.

It started at 9 a.m. Friday with Brocker and Bismarck Police Officer Kelly Dollinger picking up Ethan and his sister, Payton Koenig, 12, for a ride in a squad car, where he got to press the button to start the siren.

He toured the Bismarck Police Department, sometimes carried by dad, sometimes using a walker, and got to visit the firing range and SWAT room and see the firing range and the different guns that fascinated him.

Then it was on to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in north Bismarck. More gifts, and learning about fingerprinting and weaponry used.

Then on to south Bismarck to the state's crime lab, where forensic scientists showed him their specialized microscopes and tricks of the trade. And then there was a visit to the North Dakota Highway Patrol headquarters and then on to meet with Gov. John Hoeven.

"Is he like the president of North Dakota?" Ethan asked his mother.

Dollinger said if Ethan wants to be a real cop someday, it shouldn't be a problem. There are officers with prosthetic legs now.

"I don't think that should slow him up at all,"he said.

Now that he's officially an honorary peace officer, if he needs help, fellow members will help him.

"We're a family,"Brocker said.

For example, if the family's car were to break down, they could call a local FOPand get help, Brocker said.

An FOP representative, even before Ethan's official swearing-in, came to the medical facility in Minnesota to see if Ethan or his family needed anything. Support is still needed. It's not over.

Chemotherapy continues and doctors are looking at the possibility that there may be cancerous nodules in his lungs.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)