PolicePosers.com

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Investigators–Police-Posers-behind-high-profile-crimes–71834742.html

A small excerpt from the article itself:

by CHRIS INGALLS / KING 5 Investigators

Posted on November 24, 2009 at 10:51 PM

SEATTLE – A series of recent high-profile crimes all have a common thread. They involve people posing as police officers.

The KING 5 Investigators have learned it may be more than coincidence that there are so many “police posers” on the streets these days and that it is often hard to tell them apart from the good guys.

To passers-by at a Federal Way truck stop earlier this year, it looked like law enforcement was taking down one of its own. A marked K-9 vehicle was pulled over, the man driving it placed in cuffs, and the sidearm from his holster seized. He was stopped by an off-duty King County detective who saw the car driving down I-5 and played a hunch it wasn’t an actual cop.

The rest of the article and video shed a lot of light on the impostor problems the Seattle area is facing which spurred the article. Thank you Chris for the work done on the article and the video.

http://www.badgeworld.com/index.php?p=product&id=2194&parent=163

A member of our staff recently found this jaw dropping impostor kit. Included is a complete outfit made to look like something official along with badge and official looking ID.

Provided on the page is a mostly bogus advertisement saying people need this junk to be better citizens for their “duty to country.” They reinforce this with various quotes from officials, statistics (some true, some stretched) and other fear tactics listed throughout the advertisement. We also viewed the infamous “CCW” badge being advertised through the site so our hopes are low for their concerns for impostors.

If you sit down and think about it you would realize no one would use this for the intended purpose. Kits like this give easy access to impostors to commit crimes with very little shopping for their equipment. Add that to the false advertising that gives a sense of power to anyone buying this stuff and you might have a problem.

Something we have been seeing very recently is vigilante impostors. These are the type that go out and impersonate law enforcement in the name of justice, or more likely they own justice. For the most part they are harmless but their very existence is to confuse the public into following the law. While there is a large following of people who think confusion is cool and harmless, we don’t see it that way and view it as unethical and wrong. Vigilante impostors take to the roads in retired police vehicles and illegal lighting and stop motorist that make them mad and warn them to be better. In the past few months we have seen more than a few different stories about older males performing these actions. The main reason for them to break the law was their opinion on their local law enforcement wasn’t doing enough. So they felt the need to go out and take matters into their own hands without any training or cooperation from the local law enforcement. The latest article we found on this phenomenon the alleged impostor even call the real police for backup on his cell phone and was caught this way.

So in essence, don’t go out and play cop when you aren’t asked to. On top of that don’t do it illegally using your own equipment. If you are unhappy with your local law enforcement, talk to them about it or even your local city/county government. Also see if your area has a neighborhood watch program or even a police auxiliary program. There are better ways to deal with personal disagreements on how the law is enforced other than impersonating and breaking the law to fight crime in your own way.

A recent submission to our growing database of impostor stories comes from the great state of Iowa. It was reported by a few news sources that William Reese of Newhall was charged with impersonation of a police office along with other charges. Reese, a jailer, was accused of trying to stop a real sheriff’s deputy in a fully marked law enforcement vehicle and even chased the deputy to his residence. Then it is alleged Reese exited his vehicle and began to verbally harass and made threatening jesters. Reese was then arrested and it was said the whole video of the incident was captured by the cruiser camera Reese was driving.

This little story goes to show you possible impostors can form anywhere with any occupation. We can say we don’t have an actual solution on how to avoid this type of situation due to the vehicles being a real sheriff’s patrol vehicle. As always though, leave yourself and out and don’t be afraid to call 911 or the non-emergency communications number if something doesn’t seem right.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/45058612.html

http://gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090511/NEWS/705119933/1001/NEWS

With the surge of people who want to pretend to be something they are not increasing, so are those trying to profit from it. This time we will explore the “Concealed Weapons Permit” Badge or CCW (Carry Concealed Weapon) Badge.

While we are not against the lawfull practice of CCW or firearms in general, we are against these badges circulating in the public. What is the advertised purpose of the CCW badge you might ask? Here’s an example from an auction advertisement that is selling these badges:

So basically in the small possibility you have someone held at gunpoint and a law enforcement officer shows up, you flip out your badge and all is “OK”? Highly unlikely. While the advertisement makes it sound like a common thing, some quick searching could not find any stories that remotely resembled this scenario. The proper things to do in a scenario where a legal firearm owner interacts with law enforcment is highly debated and unique to each situation such that they exceed the scope of this article. There is however one hard and fast rule- NEVER, under any circumstance, point any firearm at a law enforcment officer. What we are going to focus on is seeing if the CCW badge is really intended for it’s advertised purpose or is intended for someone who wants to feel important without the necessary training and certifications to do it the right way.

The CCW badge business is becoming so lucrative that companies will customize any badge to say whatever you want and be of any design with any seal on it that you wish to have.  So what is the real purpose of “customizing” your very own CCW badge that means nothing to the only people who you intend to use it with (LEOs)? Well, we here at Policeposers.com believe that they are catering to the wannabe crowd and to those who think having a CCW badge also gives them the authority to perform law enforcement duties. Many wanabees fail to understand that a badge is the symbol of the authority granted an officer by the government, and not the source of it.

So next time when you see someone carrying a CCW badge, you will probably wonder “why?” Most CCW permit holders are level headed and don’t need badges, shields, or any other device to further exemplify their authority. In most cases having a CCW permit makes you want to hide your weapon from the general public. Wearing a badge on your belt (as we found to be a recommended tactic by some sites selling these badges) doesn’t do anything but create confusion about what people perceive you as. Wannabes get their rush from the confusion and that is our point here. So in the end folks, leave the badges to the public safety sector and Halloween costumes for children and live your life like regular people who happen to be CCW permit holders.

A recent alleged impostor of sorts was banned from a popular lighting forum. Enforcement_Officer signed up and claimed to be on par with law enforcement from his very first posts and his profile occupation. Throughout his short span on TLB, he made several statements that others took as he thought he was a law enforcement officer. While this supposed string of claims went on, others took notice and began to question Mr. Enforcement_Officer.

With his whacker pride posted on Youtube in several videos, the dam broke and a TLB member called the possible impostor out in his own dedicated thread. While some defend the Enforcement_Officer, others joined in on questioning the motive of his actions. To prevent further issues, the thread was locked and shushed away to a hiding spot and the author was suspended due to his actions. The author is also an upstanding member of the policeposers.com forums. While Enforcement_Officer was flying under the radar on TLB to most users there, we were actively watching him along with many others like him who populate message forums and web sites possibly living a lie. If you know of any others like this person, we would be more than happy to hear about it.

So we start this week off with a little tidbit posted on a popular lighting forum. Someone claims to be law enforcement in their forum profile but they are in reality, just a security guard as we will find out. So someone asks the inevitable question:

So you say you work security, but your profile says “Law Enforcement”. Which one is it?

lol over here in california seucirty enforce laws.

we are considered law enforcement.

my title is enforcement officer.

those of us whom wear a badge are brothers and sisters,

the thin blue line represents a family of law enforcement.

So this set off so many alarms with us that we had to share it. As you can see, this person thinks security is considered law enforcement and they are one in the same. He also goes on to state that the State of California shares this opinion although we couldn’t find where California Penal Code said this. He goes on to state anyone who wears a badge is part of the brotherhood, presumably he meant the law enforcement brotherhood. The same goes the mention of the “Thin Blue Line” family. To wrap up the above, the job title has nothing to do with the actual job in a lot of cases but was used as evidence of his importance.

Why the big deal? Well, we keep tabs on the security industry. Recently we’ve notice a growing trend of the line between law enforcement and the private security industry getting blurred. While security is a very much needed resource, the confusion some bring into it makes it harder for the general public to know who is what and what the people in uniforms can do. This attitude filters down to individual guards who take it upon themselves to push the confusion and live the dream of being a cop. The internet makes it easier to push that dream as fact checking and credentials get hard and harder the smarter the security guard really is.

In conclusion, expect this to be a growing trend. Guards who pretend to be cops and guards who really think they are cops. Be sure to know what your local law enforcement wears for uniforms and drives for vehicles. Also know your local security companies and their traits.

This is an interesting story we have been tracking for a few days. It is reported by several media outlets that a 14 year old male allegedly made it through various steps of reporting for duty at a Chicago Police Station and patrolled for several ours before being realized. As the story goes, the child is accused of claiming to be with another precinct, then checking out some equipment and buddying up with a patrol car and riding around for 5 hours.

Several news agencies reported that this minor has done this type of behavior before. Police reported that this male was a former Police Explorer. It is reported that the male was never on any calls but he told his mother a different story and even claimed to go to a domestic violence call. One good thing is the male allegedly wasn’t armed. From what I could find, it was stated he had a realistic style uniform and even had a vest carrier that he shoved news paper into to give it a realistic look.

The investigation into the incident and security loop holes is ongoing. The thing that peaked out interest is the fact this male was a former Police Explorer. While we at PolicePosers.com are still looking into the relation of Police/Fire Explores and whackers/wannabes, this article kind of points in that direction. Those programs are good when managed right and the members are checked for these behaviors. However, some times these programs are underfunded and mismanaged turning them into wannabe havens for misguided youths.

For further reading on the 14yo alleged impostor, check the stories below.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/01/14-year-old-boy-impersonates-chicago-cop.html

http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2009/01/burger-queen-strikes-again.html

Against popular opinion, all impostors aren’t just impersonators of law enforcement. Last week an interesting article was submitted to us. According to 9news.com, Todd Teel is accused of impersonating a paramedic with the ambulance company American Medical Response (AMR). According to this story, he is accused of impersonating a paramedic for around 17 months and treating numerous patients in this time. The story also states Teel is being charged for allegedly forging a national paramedic certification card and impersonating a paramedic. Again, this goes to show the public impersonation can happen anywhere and can place the public in danger when doing so.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/12/10/20081210dpscontract1211-ON.html

According to this story, someone who is a registered sex offender was accused of using a fully outfitted police look-a-like vehicle to slow traffic down at a construction site.

This is another example of how people abuse the the trust of the public by acting or looking official on purpose. Security professionals have been increasingly doing this over the past few years and now we see the general public is starting to do the same thing. While some view this as neat or cool, these type of actions erode the trust of official organizations with the public and makes it harder for everyone who does these type of jobs in real life. Just something to ponder going into the holiday season.