'Books and Badges' brings hundreds of books to kids in a low-income Sarasota community On Wednesday, the "Books and Badges" event is hosted by the Sarasota Housing Authority allowed police officers to hand out hundreds of books to kids in a public housing community. and last updated 2021-07-14 18:23:48-04 SARASOTA, Fla. â On Wednesday, Sarasota police officers handed out hundreds of books to kids in a public housing community. The "Books and Badges" event was hosted by the Sarasota Housing Authority and Sarasota Public Libraries. "Weâre really working hard to turn what is typically a book desert, where these families donât have a lot of books available to them, into a book-rich environment," said William Russell with the Sarasota Housing Authority.