When John Mobley Jr. of Orlando was arrested for trying to steal lights off a patrol car in 2002, he knew his dream of being a law-enforcement officer would never become a reality.
That didn’t stop him from acting like one, says the Orlando Sentinel. He was arrested at least three times last year for impersonating an officer. More than a dozen others in Central Florida have been arrested for impersonating an officer since January.
Louis Schlesinger, a forensic psychologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said, “This may be a disturbed sort of guy who may need some psychological treatment. These kind of people are police ‘wannabes’ and probably got rejected.” Police impersonation is “certainly troubling and something that has to be taken seriously,” said Jim Solomons, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. “People turn to police officers during critical times in their lives,” Solomons said. “Anyone who isn’t a law-enforcement officer and tries to pass themselves off as a one, is a serious concern to all law enforcement.”