In each case, men pretending to be police preyed on victims who let down their guard because they thought they were being stopped by real officers.
Officer impersonation is a nationwide crime, and it has flourished in recent years with brazen criminals sometimes going to great lengths to pull off their ruse.
“You wave a badge at someone and tell them to pull over and you’d be amazed at how many people are going to obey,” said Dr. Naftali Berrill, a psychologist who runs the New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science. “They disarm their victims by appearing to be cops.”
More than a costume, the crime is about attitude.
“It takes nerves of steel to pull this off, the average person couldn’t do it,” Berrill said.
There are no readily available national statistics on the number of police impersonation cases, but it is enough of an issue to prompt some cities to take action.
New York City police arrest about 100 suspects annually on charges of impersonating an officer. The NYPD has a specialized unit, believed to be the only one in the country, dedicated to solving cases where a suspect impersonates an officer.
The unit analyzes statistics, uses DNA and other crime-solving techniques and even sets up sting operations, going undercover to investigate impersonators.
The majority of the cases are home invasions or robberies, said Lt. John P. McGovern, who runs the command.
Fake officers have benefited from the Internet and technology that allow them to buy and replicate real badges and uniforms.
An impersonator is usually dressed in plain clothes and carries a small badge or identification.
That’s what happened recently in Queens, where a woman was raped in her apartment by a man who banged on her door and flashed a badge, saying he was the police. A suspect was apprehended by neighbors and arrested on rape and assault charges.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said that every incident undermines real officers’ ability to work.
Investigators encounter a complex criminal profile in dealing with such crimes. Some impostors are master manipulators, while others are delusional, with hero complexes.
“They feel a certain sense of powerlessness, they fantasize they’d have power and be respected if they were a cop, or they have the fantasy of being a hero,” Berrill said.
Others impersonate police to commit crimes. Last month, men posing as officers committed a string of robberies. And drug dealers often pretend to be police to steal from other dealers, officials said.
