Miami Police issue fake-cops alert | Miami Herald

Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2004

Police issue fake-cops alert

Police charge a man with impersonating an officer to steal from motorists. Officers are seeking a second offender.

By SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
snesmith@herald.com


THE CASE: Miami Police Chief John Timoney discusses the arrest of Norberto Iglesias, in poster, who is charged with robbery, fraud and impersonating a police officer. CANDACE BARBOT/HERALD STAFF

A blue-and-red light flashed in the rearview mirror. The motorist pulled over and spoke to the man with a badge and a gun.

The man asked for a driver's license and registration, then insisted on searching the car. The motorist was cooperative and was later allowed to leave without getting a ticket. He probably felt lucky.

Until he got home and discovered his credit card missing.

Miami police say two men have been pretending to be police officers in the Flagami area to rob unsuspecting motorists. A suspect is in custody, but police are still looking for another thief who struck as recently as Wednesday.

More at the Miami Herald

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Do you remember the Florida woman a few years ago who was pulled over by a very angry Georgia cop? Coming from SF, that woman had heard many advisories, just as I had, about being careful of people posing as cops. The advice was given to acknowledge the cop, but to keep driving until you were in a area where it was safe to stop, just in case it was an imposter. Unfortunately, the GA cop totally lost his cool because she didn't immediately pool over on a desolate stretch of highway. It was shocking to us S. Floridians, especially - because we had been warned NOT to stop in unsafe areas.

As Michael Moore wisely observed, we live in fictional times.

The fiction of the "homeland," this Edenic vale under constant assault from near-mythic enemies, has paralyzed American common sense.

Even as Washington bombards us with fear messages (Code Yellow! Attacks averted! Amorphous shadow on horizon! Dire news from Gondor!), we are taught to trust in the illusion of the Supercop. Law Enforcement Knows Best, goes this narrative. You Have No Choice But to Quiver Under Our Paternal Care.

Dope a population with enough of that junk, and not only is it happy to watch your made-for-TV wars and endorse your vicious domestic policies. It also gets so reflexively gullible that criminals posing as cops can work scams, trusting that the mark will come pre-hypnotized.

When the business of government is making saps out of its citizens, expect the cleverer sociopaths to come along for the ride.