people inpersonating police officers

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wizardofahs

New member
I'm not sure if this is going on anywhere else, but here in Colorado it's happend at least a couple times in the past few weeks. In one instance it lead to the murder of a young woman. Here is a few news stories about this from the past two weeks.





http://www.9news.com/storyfull-search.asp?id=11496

http://www.9news.com/storyfull-search.asp?id=11236

http://www.9news.com/storyfull-search.asp?id=11205

http://www.9news.com/storyfull-search.asp?id=10910



Basically people are pulling people over and impersinating police officers. Not just for fun, but often to commit other crimes like car theft. Everyone should watch out for this. The tips that i heard on the news are:



If the cop doesn't look official or is in an unmarked car, keep your doors locked and windows rolled up.



Don't open anything untill you are sure they are a real cop.



You can ask to see a badge which depending on your county are usually marked with some kind of seal to show they are legit.



If you have any suspicions that the person might not be a real cop, ask them to call the nearest marked police vehicle to come and assist them.



Don't pull over untill you are in a safe spot in a lighted area in public. If you aren't imediatly close to one, turn on your hazard lights to let the cop know you do plan on pulling over.



Legally all of that is ok for you to do. The cops here in colorado are more than generous with the requests because of what has been going on. It doesn't hurt to be safe.



The guy(s) doing it around here suposeldy looked unofficial. In at least once case he didn't have a gun, or full uniform, or even a belt with all that stuff on it. If you see someone like this don't make sure you get some proof of who they are before assuming they are a real cop.
 
if you have a cell phone, you can call 911 and they should be able to contact the officer following you...it's a bit of a pain becuase the dispatch centers aren't necessarilly colocated with the people handleing officer radio traffic, but they should be able to work it out.



A traffic stop is one of the most dangerous activities for a police officer, so if you don't pull over right away, they may get a bit annoyed with you when you finally do stop.
 
medic said:


A traffic stop is one of the most dangerous activities for a police officer, so if you don't pull over right away, they may get a bit annoyed with you when you finally do stop.
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True, i think this is why it's a good idea to put your hazards on to let them know you acknowledge them. But if i have to put my saftey over a cops discomfort i'm going to chose my saftey. I think putting the hazards on and slowing down are enough to ease their fears and let them know that you are just looking for a safe place. I doubt they would appreciate it if you pulled over onto the side of the road with a 4 foot wide side margine with traffic going 75 mph rushing by on a highway. If I ever had to drive a little bit to pull over the first thing i'd say to the cop would be "i'm sorry i didn't pull over right away but i thought this spot would be safer for both of us" or something similiar.



I know how the justice system works (somewhat) and while a cop being 'anoyed' shouldn't affect what you are issued or what happens, there is a good chance it might. A lawyer could probably help here if that is the case.



They interviewed a couple of cops on the news and all of them said they would like people to be more cautious. At least with what's going on in CO right now i think they would be more than fine with people taking a little bit of care.
 
We had that problem several years ago in the Chicago area. There was someone impersonating a cop running around the city and suburbs. The cops here were telling all the women to be cautious as this guy would target women to pull his act with.
 
This kind of stuff was happening in Nashville back in the 80s (when I was in college). There was an Illinois family driving down to Disney World going thru Nashville during the middle of the night, and they were pulled over by flashing lights. Everybody was asleep except for the driver (the woman). She was robbed of all of their cash (they all of their vacation $ in cash, no traveller's checks) and then the guy smashed their windshield with a baseball bat! I felt so bad for them. :(
 
Now I don't come out often but, I have been a COP for thirty years. BTW: COP stands for "Constable on Patrol". There is no reason on this earth for an officer to have to work traffic in an unmarked car in plain clothes. I had to work in an umarked car at times and it only scares people. It is not more productive. Its legal but stupid.



enough said!
 
rightlane said:
There is no reason on this earth for an officer to have to work traffic in an unmarked car in plain clothes. I had to work in an umarked car at times and it only scares people. It is not more productive. Its legal but stupid.



enough said!
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I agree, but that was the case for me a couple of weeks ago. I pulled out to pass a couple of slow cars, and a car immediately tailed me and sped up. I was worried about getting rear-ended and sped up even more, and that's when he flicked on his strobes. Luckily, he didn't cite me for excessive speed. :(
 
rightlane said:
Now I don't come out often but, I have been a COP for thirty years. BTW: COP stands for "Constable on Patrol". There is no reason on this earth for an officer to have to work traffic in an unmarked car in plain clothes. I had to work in an umarked car at times and it only scares people. It is not more productive. Its legal but stupid.



enough said!
Click to expand...



Really, they work plain clothes to? When this happened in AZ when I lived there, the guy had on a police costume. It didn't look too similar (fake patches), but when you have a person you think is a cop pull you over and shine a light in your face you probably aren't thinking about checking for the badge number or even the proper uniform identification.



Yeah, plain clothes and unmarked is nuts unless the office is undercover; but then what's he wasting time with pulling people over for.
 
I've heard here in Tulsa, they call for a "Marked" car if undercover needs to pull someone over. TPD had the TV news make sure people knew after we had the same problems with someone impersonating a cop. Nice to know.......
 
wow. I havent heard of any of this..

closest was hearing of someone impersonating a cop to get free coffee at starbucks.:confused:
 
OT: one of the coffee places around here (peaberrys, i like it more than starbucks because they have chocolate covered beans (don't remember which but they are high in cafeen) in one of those bubble gum dispensors) is offering free coffee to anyone who shows them that they are an organ donor.
 
We have several incidents of that type of activity going on here in PA....one suspect is a vol. fire fighter with a full size blue light bar on a Ford Tarus... psycho...!!!



Here in PA a municipal or county police vehicle must have RED and BLUE lights. State Police unmarked vehicles may have a single RED light. Unmarked units are often used for traffic but the officer must be in uniform to write a citation. He can stop you (ie a detective who views an incident) but he then has to call a uniformed officer to do the follow up.



Don't stop for a single blue light in PA...(yeild for firemen, obviously...)



Definitly put your four ways on if you are going to continue to a safer location.... I have been on low speed pursuits due to the operators high level of intoxication, just can't figure out what to do...



I know that I will always try to pull someone over in a well lighted area for the safety of me and the individual. :xyxthumbs
 
This is sort of off-topic, and not meant to make light of the current situation, but I can't resist sharing this story.



When I was a tech at the dealership, our Service Manager (the boss of the service writers and techs) had such a "thing" for police officers - he carried around a semi-official "deputy badge" in his wallet (he'd often flip it around like you see them do on TV, and would also wear it around his neck like an undercover officer).



He also always had to have his demo vehicles (service manager and sales managers got demo vehicles) rigged with strobe lights (headlights, markers and tail lights), and a siren. He'd carry around an old "gumball" light in the car that he'd throw on the roof every once in a while, too.



He was such a nutcase, I can't even describe him in a way that truly does him justice. I remember having to fix one of his demo cars once, and he insisted on taking me out for a test run with him - we're going down the interstate (dealership was located about 1 mile from I-90/94 in Madison), and he sees this kid go racing by in a Camaro. He starts the strobes, flips on the siren, and pulls out the gumball.



Fighting the wind (we're going like 70), he sticks it on the roof and PULLS THE CAMARO OVER. He gets out, flips his badge and is yelling at the poor kid. He writes down the kid's information on a pad of paper and gets in the car.



He looks at me and goes, "well, we got another one today. The road is a safer place."



I just didn't even know what to say. I told the story to other guys back at the shop, and they said, "oh yeah, he does that all the time."



I wonder if he's moved to Colorado???
 
I can truthfully say that it is scary with how easy it is to get police stuff. Look on ebay (search for strobe light) and you can find almost anything out of a police car. I personally have a PA/Airhorn system, strobe lights, and a headlight flasher. BUT, they are all on a separate circuit that is only powered with a keyed switch located within the trunk. I don't mean to scare anyone, but more to point out how easy it is to get this stuff. I think all that cost me about $450 (canadian).



I work with the police often and have asked them about this, their response was this: If you're being pursured and don't feel comfortable, then put on your flashers and go to the nearest safe/public place. If there is no such place, call the dispatch (911 only if there is no other option) main number and tell the officer what is happening and they can then get in contact with the pursueing officer.
 
rightlane said:
Now I don't come out often but, I have been a COP for thirty years. BTW: COP stands for "Constable on Patrol". There is no reason on this earth for an officer to have to work traffic in an unmarked car in plain clothes. I had to work in an umarked car at times and it only scares people. It is not more productive. Its legal but stupid.



enough said!
Click to expand...



On the expressways in Chicago, there are a plethora of unmarkeds (e.g. Z28s, Mustang GTs, Grand Prix GTPs, Firebird) that work traffic but the cops are in uniform. It's difficult to tell the cop cars from the civilians because they are a standard issue car with standard issue plates.
 
The same thing has been going on here on the eastern side of PA. A white male was driving what appeared to be an old unmarked police car. He would stop females and ask them questions that were sexual in nature. Same guy was a suspect in several attempted rapes on women after the car was stopped. It got to a point where our department would only allow marked police cars to make car stops. Un- marked cars were used for surveilance only.



If you were unsure if police were stopping you motorists were told to do exactly what some of have already suggested. Put

4 ways on and stop in a well lit area, doors locked etc. Also suggest a wave of the hand acknowledgeing that you know police are trying to stop you.



From a police officers perspective its always a concern when

somebody doesn't stop for you. But I also understand why some people are nervous when this type of thing occurs in your area.



18 yrs on and 12 to go...........By the way this is an awesome site!
 
As far as waiting to pull over in a well lit area goes, I can vouch that it makes cops very mad. I am in a program in the town I live in that allows me to ride around with the cops and do other stuff that they do. Well, last thursday we were set up on the road that the interstate or highway or whatever it's called turns into clockin' speed. He gives them 15 over before he pulls them over and nobody was doin' that, so we got bored and decided to pull over a car with 1 headlight. Well, instead of pullin over, he decided to cruise into the local KFC. The cop was like, "I HATE when they do this." So, the cop is just a weeeeee bit annoyed at this point and goes ahead and radios for backup. So, to make a long story short, 6 cop cars are in the KFC parking lot with all their lights flashin' and everybody in the restaurant (including the workers) is runnin' to the windwows to see the what the hell is goin on, and he gets hauled off to jail for driving on a revoked licence. So, yes pullin' over in a well lit public area does make cops mad and also creates a pretty big scene.
 
I was pulled over in a rain storm going thru Tulsa, OK one summer. Drove on an extra 2 miles so I could pull over under an overpass. Cop didn't get wet, I didn't get a ticket. It wasn't for my safety, just hoping to get out of another speeding ticket....it worked!!
 
yeah, there are people out here impersonating not just cops, but service guys (power, telephone, etc.) to prey on females...scary stuff.

I've never been pulled over or got a speeding ticket (jinx), but this info is helpful nonetheless.

The CHP have these nifty white camaros, semi-unmarked. They're white and the only CHP markings are on the sides. For the flashers it's a thin thing on the roof that looks like a ski rack. Needless to say the first weekend they were out people were getting ticketed right and left :D. All the better with all the crazy rice rocket racers in the neighborhood.
 
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