Several police departments across several states have been informed of impersonators performing traffic stops and warning drivers they’re violating stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Colorado, Weld Country Sheriff’s Office alone has received numerous reports of a person driving a current generation, unmarked black Dodge Charger with dash-mounted flashing lights and pulling vehicles over throughout the county.
The suspect is described as a heavy-set white man of medium height with light hair, who may be wearing dark clothing in an effort to look like a real police officer. The Dodge Charger is believed to be a 2016 model year or later and could feature magnetic law-enforcement-type signs on the doors.
“The sheriff’s office doesn’t routinely use unmarked cars for traffic contacts and isn’t during this time of the Coronavirus pandemic,” the Weld County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “If you are being pulled over by a car that you can’t identify, slow down, put on your emergency flashers and call 911 to confirm the stop is legitimate.”
The Weld County Sheriff’s Office is also working with other agencies in northern Colorado that have also received reports of police impersonators, including the Greeley Police Department, Fort Collins Police Services, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, Frederick Police Department, Longmont Police Department, and the Colorado State Patrol, among others.
According to USA Today, a different group of imposters in Greeley, the capital city of Weld County, established an elaborate checkpoint, pulling drivers over into a corral where men with unmarked black uniforms informed them that they are violating the stay-at-home orders currently in place in Colorado.
The same issue occurred in Georgia’s Dawson and Hall counties, where a man driving a dark sedan with flashing blue lights performed multiple traffic stops late last month to “enforce a curfew”. In all cases, the drivers were allowed to continue on their way after being questioned by the fake cops.
Meanwhile in California, authorities are investigating a man who police say impersonated an El Centro Police Officer through social media. “Wearing a face mask to conceal his identity, the man in the video says that he and his partner are monitoring three families in El Centro that are not allowed to leave their house because they have tested positive for coronavirus. He also talks about coronavirus enforcements. Enforcements ECPD says are completely false,” Kyma News reported.
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