Police impersonation is the act of falsely portraying oneself as a member of the
police for the purpose of deception.
Typology and methods
Criminology
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
research has developed a typology of police impersonators,
[ categorizing offenders as
# "police enthusiasts" (Police Aspirer)
# compulsive deviants
# common criminals seeking material gain through thefts and robberies committed through ]traffic stop
A traffic stop, commonly referred to as being pulled over, is a temporary detention of a driver of a vehicle by police to investigate a possible crime or minor violation of law.
United States
A traffic stop is usually considered to be a T ...
s and home invasion
A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary (or in some jurisdictions, a separately defined crime) in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching ...
s.
A 2012 article in the ''American Journal of Criminal Justice'' noted that "Distinguishing between real and phony officers can be difficult, and impersonators present themselves in numerous manners and commit a wide variety of crimes. Impersonators do more than just pretend to be a law enforcement officer. At times, impersonators engage in serious and wide ranging crimes including robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
, rape, and homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
."911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 911 ...
verifying the legitimacy of the stop. Additionally, potential victims who questioned the legitimacy of the stop and challenged the fake officer tended to avoid further victimization."[
The 2012 study examined 56 police impersonation episodes from May 2002 to February 2010 from three U.S. metropolitan areas, dealing with 63 offenders and 71 victims. The study found that these incidents "most often involve one victim (76%), one offender (91%), no witnesses (75%), no weapon (68%), and result in no injury to the victim (96%)."][ The mean value of cash and property lost was $616.][ Of police impersonation episodes, 45% occurred on a highway, roadway, or alley; 20% occurred in or near the victim's home (such as a fake "]knock and talk In law enforcement, a knock and talk is an investigative technique where one or more police officers approaches a private residence, knocks on the door, and requests consent from the owner to search the residence. This strategy is often utilised whe ...
"); and 34% occurred in some other place.[ The study found that only 46% of police impersonation incidents were "cleared" (i.e., arrest made or resolved in some other way).][
Police impersonation has also facilitated extortion and ]assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
.[ Police enthusiasts (Aspirers) drive cars equipped with police-style emergency lights, wear ]police uniform
A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...
s, and carry fake police badges.[ Some sexual predators have impersonated police to commit sexual abuse, ]harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...
, and rape.[ Impersonation involving police vehicle and uniforms has also been used by Mexican drug cartels to smuggle currency across the U.S.-Mexico border; within Mexico, Gulf Cartel operatives have also posed as members of the Mexican police and military.
In the United Kingdom, police impersonation is criminalised by Section 90 of the Police Act 1996.
]
History
Police impersonation has a long history. In 17th and 18th-century London, impostors presented to be constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
s, marshalcy, or sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
s' officers to extort bribes or commit sex crimes. Between 1685 and 1701, 29 men in London were caught assuming the identities of law officers. In 18th-century Qing China
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...
, the police, officials, and yamen runners were often vulnerable to impersonation. There were almost 150 surviving recorded cases in Nazi Germany of impersonations of its police, mostly the notorious Gestapo secret police. A study by Robert Gellately concluded that: "As the Gestapo and to some considerable extent also the Kripo
''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...
attained a reputation for ruthlessness, brutality and mystery, their powers and reputation not only deterred, but called forth amateur imitators. From the point-of-view of impostors, the Gestapo (and Kripo) had the additional advantage of being detectives operating mostly in civilian clothes."
In Nigeria, impersonation of Nigeria Police Force officers remains a problem, inhibiting public confidence in police.[Usman Adekunle Ojedokun]
Situational and Contextual Factors Sustaining Police Impersonation in Nigeria
''Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice'' (2018).
The perpetrator of the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks
On April 18 and 19, 2020, Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at 16 locations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mo ...
used police impersonation to pull over some of his victims to murder them.
Effects
There is a limited body of research concerning police impersonation.[ Some scholars suggest that police impersonation may weaken public confidence in law enforcement and trust in authority, "particularly if victims believe that the event was a 'legitimate' police action undertaken by a corrupt cop."][
]
References
{{Reflist
See also
* Military impostor
Crimes
Law enforcement
Impostors