How big a problem to you is the impersonation of police or sheriff deps ?

[kennyqb]

Not on the forum haha, but in your area ? Is it a regular occurrence, and how much effort do they put into it ?
Are we talking genuine full uniform and correct badges, or is it more a case of trying to pass off security badges and police look a like shirts and so on ?
Have you ever been caught out yourself and believed a wannabe/criminal you've encountered was a real cop ?

[PtlCop]

I've seen a couple guys who I really feel sorry for. Ones who are just too plain stupid to pass the tests to be cops so they pretend. They don't go as far as a lot of people by buying old CV's, uniforms, duty belts, lights, etc.

The ones who really grind my gears are the guys who are usually security guards who outfit their crown vics with tinted windows, light bars, computers, lights, radios that don't work, 9 or 10 Thin Blue Line stickers or license plates, a police hat in the back window, etc. These are the dangerous guys, usually because their security agency has given them a uniform which closely resembles a police uniform, many have guns and they often time overstep the bounds of legality (i.e. making traffic stops, etc.) I have personally locked up 3 or 4 security guards for stopping cars with their yellow and white lights.

[mikeymedic]

Nothing like locking up the overzealous security guard. I would love to go back in the day and bust some of the puck security guards at the mall that thought they were above God.

[SgtCHP]

The majority of law enforcement impersonators are up to no good. They use their act to commit nafarious deeds and prey on the innocent. In the end, the create community distrust of genuine law enforcement officers. Every time I encountered or discovered one during my career, I pursued a vigorous prosecutorial mode and tried to get them locked up for a long time.

All one has to do is read the many published cases on police impersonators to see they are not the most trustworthy of individuals..

[PhilipCal]

I haven't encountered a large volume of Impersonation issues over the years, but where I have, I have made the appropriate arrest, and the District Attorney has prosecuted the cases aggressively. When consulted with respect to possible plea bargains, reduced sentence etc. I have strongly recommended no deals, no reduction in sentence. This is a serious criminal offense, and should be dealt with ,with no leneincy

[417Lt]

For some reason, not many of the impersonator types want to be game wardens. Maybe it has something to do with contacting people that have loaded guns in their hands, or the lack of single females driving around in the boonies. We have had them though. I had the distinct pleasure of arresting one in my former warden district of Castaic. This guy had bought a retired DFG patrol vehicle from the state auction and managed to get a couple magnetic door emblems. Add a green baseball cap with a patch on it and a windbreaker from our Baker to Vegas running team and he at least looked right. What he was doing was all do get into local lakes for free as he was a hard core bass fisherman. He would tell the person working the kiosk that he was working low-profile in an unmarked boat. He never contacted anyone in an enforcement context but he did want everyone around to think he was a warden. It became an embarrassment to us when people started noticing the fishing laws he was violating and his behavior in general.

[pnwcopper]

There were a couple of sh&% heads that bought one of our old black and whites at auction. The car still had the spot light on it. One night a couple of months ago one of our female officers was driving home from the end of shift and she came across these d bags driving around. The guys see her and attempt to pull her over with flashing head lamps and using the spot. She radios in what is happening and the calvary starts coming to her. These idiots cut her off and then stop in the road right in front of her. Just about that time the sea of red and blue surround them guns drawn. Boy were they in for a surprise when they found out she was a cop.

[CruiserClass]

I'll draw a distinction between an impersonator and a whacker. Most true "get in the car I'm a cop" impersonators tend to be dirt bags praying on folks with their own checkered pasts. They play vice detective or something, no uniform, some sort of badge, maybe a flashly light or two.

Then there's the whacker. Everything he can possibly think of. He'll probably look more police-like than the impersonator but never crosses the line of actually saying "I'm the police, do this." He just lets people assume. Then its a fine line if he crosses over to impersonation occasionally or lives the happy whacker life for years to come.

[oden]

Not Cops

I pulled up behind two cars stopped on the right shoulder of the freeway, it was dark out. The lead car was driven by a lone female who's car had stalled, and she didn't have a cell phone. The rear car had an amber flashing light on his dash, which is what caught my attention.

The car with the flashing light that pulled in behind her, had two adult males, carrying flashlights, flares and various other items and stated they stopped to assist the woman in the stalled vehicle.

They never identified themselves as police officers, but to an unsuspecting woman in need of help on a dark freeway, the image these guys portrayed could be overbearing.

A long story short, it appeared these guys were prowling the freeways for stalled cars driven by women needing assistance.

I think we can all imagine what these guys were up to. But is there an arrest here? After a few questions of these two good citizens, I arrested the driver for carrying a concealed weapon. Yep he was Armed! And here in California, without a ccw permit, you are in violation.

Leave it up the professionals.

[2971511]

We get everything from security badges ,, to real looking fake police badges, I locked one guy up for Possession of a Stolen Detective Badge from a neighboring jurisdiction, he was trying to tell me he was DEEP U/C....

We also get people with cars with flashing lights, radios etc.
So I have learned to always check for ID, a badge means NOTHING.

[JPSO Recruit]

We had some punk kids who took a teardrop light from a pawn store and put it in this auctioned off state police crown vic, with spotlight and radio antennas. They were in jeans ,a "Police Officer" shirt and were pulling over drivers for "speeding" and giving them "warnings" to slow it down. They pulled over one of our own off duty Deputies, who noticed their little scheme, they were arrested and shown what a real police car looks like. Idiots.