Weld County, Co., Sheriff Steve Reams says a police impersonator with flashing lights on his Dodge Charger has been stopping drivers and warning them they’re violating coronavirus-related travel restrictions. The man is breaking the law and putting himself at risk, because traffic stops are among the most dangerous things law enforcement officers do, reports USA Today. “For the life of me, I don’t understand why someone would want to do this,” Reams says. “I don’t think there’s a law enforcement agency in the state that has time to do that kind of thing.” Authorities have reported police impersonators making coronavirus-related stops in Georgia, California, and other places.
The coronavirus outbreak seems to have emboldened an unusual number of them, particularly in Northern Colorado. A group of impostors conducted an elaborate checkpoint in Greeley, the capital city of Weld County, funneling drivers into a corral where men with unmarked black uniforms and dash-mounted flashing lights questioned them about violating travel restrictions, police said. Colorado’s stay-at-home order permits essential travel, including trips to work. In Georgia’s Dawson and Hall counties, a man driving a dark sedan with flashing blue lights in its windshield area stopped several drivers late last month to “enforce a curfew,” the Dawson County Sheriff’s office said. Reams’ office says drivers who worry they’re being targeted by an impostor should put on their hazard lights and call 911 to confirm. Reams says some men want to exercise police powers without training to be a cop. “They want to be in some position of power,” he says. “It just gives them an opportunity to go out and try and assert some authority, or pretend to assert some authority. No good cop likes someone pretending to be a cop.”