Fake police car incidents prompt reminder from real Calgary officers
The Calgary Eyeopener | CBC News | Posted: October 28, 2015 2:10 PM | Last Updated: October 28, 2015
Shoddy lighting jobs a hallmark of illegitimate vehicles trying to pull people over
Don't be fooled by a weak strobe light — real police cars won't cheap out on the flashing red-and-blues.
That's the message Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey had for Calgarians after a series of incidents in which vehicles were pulled over by men posing as police officers, and subsequently robbed.
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"Unmarked police vehicles will always have red and blue flashing lights and they're built into the vehicle's grill and the interior," Stacey told the Calgary Eyeopener.
"When we're conducting a traffic stop, the red and blue lights will be flashing, as will the vehicle's headlights."
Over the weekend, three vehicles pulled over when a car drove up behind them with a flashing strobe light, only to be robbed by the fake police officers and, in one victim's case, pulled from the vehicle and assaulted.
The incidents happened in the communities of Beddington, Harvest Hills and North Haven.
Three men in their early 20s were later arrested, and Stacey noted the victims were even younger.
He said the suspects face criminal charges of impersonating a police officer.
Previous impersonations
It's not the first time someone has tried this. Stacey said it won't be the last, but noted incidents like this are rare.
Police did deal with several similar incidents in April 2013, in which a sweatpants-clad man affixed blue-and-red lights to his car and pulled several people over.
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Stacey said the difference in lighting will usually be apparent between a fake police car and a real one.
"It's quite a job to wire the police cars the way our mechanics do that and the bad guys, they're lazy, so they'll have a plug-in light that they'll just throw on the dash," he said.
"Probably 99.9 per cent of our traffic stops are done by officers in uniform," Stacey added.
"It is extremely rare, although possible, extremely rare for a police officer to do a traffic stop in plain clothes."