YOUR ATTEMPT TO IMPRESS THE LADIES HAS FAILED

[substitute]

Hey everybody! Let's go out to Sutra tonight, get plowed, and impersonate a cop! That always turns the girls' heads.

COSTA MESA – A 29-year-old Downey man was arrested early today after he reportedly flashed an LAPD-style detective's badge at police at a nightclub and then later when he was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving.

Pedro R. Davila had approached two uniformed police officers at Sutra, a Costa Mesa nightclub, shown the badge and said he was a Los Angeles Police Department officer assigned to the Downey station. Later the officers realized that Downey has its own police department, said Costa Mesa police Sgt. Mike Ginther.

The same officers later pulled a gray Porsche over when it was observed weaving on the roadway leading to the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway and nearly hit another vehicle, Ginther said.

Davila again showed the badge and said he was an LAPD officer.

Ginther said the suspect was arrested and admitted that he was not a police officer but instead used the badge to impress women. He claimed to have purchased the badge on the Internet. The investigation is continuing.

Davila is being held in the Costa Mesa City Jail on suspicion of impersonating a police officer and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Comments

[hoyvenmayven.livejournal.com]

We have a client charged with 111 counts of impersonating (or attempting to impersonate) a cop. He figured out how to call various city departments from jail. When he gets a live person he tells them he's a homicide inspector and his phones are down and can they please transfer him to an outside line...

But in order to be guilty of impersonating a cop you have to use the impersonation to obtain money, property or a thing of value. (or you have to search or seize someone, etc.) From the article you cite, it doesn't sound like the guy did anything with his fake badge that constitutes a violation of the statute. Showing it to a cop to get out of a traffic ticket? That may count as an attempt, because getting out of a traffic ticket (or a DUI!) may be a "thing of value." But a free phone call? Hard to say.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it was showing it to the cop after being pulled over for DUI that nailed him, yeah. It's a crime just to show fake ID, right? So they can probably get him on trying to impersonate an officer in order to avoid arrest, too.

In any case: NO NOOKIE.

[brianenigma.livejournal.com]

I remember being twelve and thinking it would be really cool to have a Porsche and a cop badge (as well as a gun, an Indiana Jones whip, helicopter, secret underground layer, shrink ray gun, and time machine.) It's good to see that adults still hang on to those childhood dreams.

[ganatronic.livejournal.com]

There's been a string of incidents lately in the Sacramento area involving guys attaching a flashing light to their car and then pulling over women. They also have a fake badge on their clothes so the women don't immediately catch on. They then either rape the women right there, or escort them to a secluded spot to rape them. Reports say that many of the perpetrators are not affiliated with one another. There's just a bunch of people out there doing this. It's scary.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

There's a wonderful Laurie Anderson piece about a similar incident in the 1980s, in which women alone were actually told not to pull over until they caught the people doing this (they did) and a minor speeding epidemic resulted.

[trinnit.livejournal.com]

Would you prefer a Galls or Chiefs Supply catalog for all your impersonation needs?

Hillside Strangler

[torgo-x.livejournal.com]

Over here! ~2.4MB mp3