Pin collecting started with government employees
Pin collecting around Los Angeles started with government employees. Months before opening day in 1984, the many city, county and state agencies working on the Games were holding planning meetings and projects together, and pins turned out to be the perfect thing to trade. The "pin fever" that spread among corporate sponsors and suppliers hit the agencies just as hard, and the headquarters of the Integrated Planning Group became a hub for collectors swapping tips.
The first government pin is believed to be the Los Angeles Police Department's Olympic Games Planning Group "Torch" pin. Collectors snapped them up so fast that LAPD kept issuing torch pins right up to opening day. Once that pin broke the ice, other agencies joined in, and each soon made its own. Some were small changes to existing pins and others were creative new designs. Agencies kept making them long after the Games ended, and many of the government pins in the 1985 Pin Collector's Guide came out well after the closing ceremonies.
Law enforcement (G1 to G124)
The first 124 numbers belong to police and sheriff pins. They include Beverly Hills, Long Beach, the Los Angeles Police Department with its torch pin series, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the California Highway Patrol, which made its own Air Ops Olympics pin. Many of these came in several versions, so some collectors chase the full set from one department.
Fire, public works and other city agencies (G125 to G144)
The last group goes beyond the police. It starts with Los Angeles Fire Department pins, including a run of torch designs built on crossed axes and firefighter helmets, plus a pin from the 111th IAFC. Next come city and state agencies: a data service pin, the RTD transit pin, two Caltrans designs (one with Sam the Eagle), and three round "City of the '84 Games" Public Works pins. Like the police pins, these were made as trading pins by the departments themselves.
Source: 1985 Pin Collector's Guide, Government Pins Introduction, page 27, and pin pages 77 and 78.