Home >Police Enforcement > Random Checkpoints > Florida: Cop Impersonator Uses Unmarked Car

Related News Texas Becomes Roadblock Battleground Ohio: Momentary Drift is Grounds for Search and Ticket Federal Court Rules Driving with Air Fresheners is Suspicious Washington: Police May Not Arrest Car Passengers Based on Smell Tennessee Supreme Court Upholds Tickets for Dawdlers View Main Topics: Camera Enforcement    Speed Cameras    Red Light Cameras    Revenue from Cameras    Camera Accuracy    Engineering/Signals Police Enforcement    Random Checkpoints    Speed Limits/Traps    Tickets and Cash    Seizure/Confiscation    Parking Tickets    Taxes and Tolls    Drunk Driving Laws Miscellaneous Issues    Miscellaneous    Hypocrisy    Bad Policy and Injustice    Propaganda    New Technologies    Privacy Issues The Revolt    Protests    Camera Destruction Subscribe via RSS or E-Mail Back To Front Page

6/20/2008 Florida: Cop Impersonator Uses Unmarked Car Motorists in St. Augustine, Florida mistakenly pull over for a false cop in an unmarked car. The St. Johns County, Florida Sheriff's Office arrested a man yesterday charged with posing as a police officer in an unmarked car. Police say that Ryan Mcleod Satz, 21, used a flashing blue and red light on the dashboard of a white Chevy Tahoe to fool motorists into pulling over for him on Interstate 95 and State Road 207 near St. Augustine. WTLV-TV reported that a woman who recognized Satz watched him pull over a driver. The woman reported the incident to police who caught Satz later that evening. Satz was allegedly wearing clothes and equipment resembling those used by the sheriff's department, including a .40 caliber handgun. Satz himself was a former St. Johns Sheriff's Office Police Explorer. "The mission of the Explorer Program is to bridge the gap between youth and law enforcement by educating boys and girls who may be interested in a career in law enforcement," the department's website explains. "Although some explorers may not pursue a career in law enforcement, the skills they learn during their affiliation with the program will aid them throughout their lives." Satz now faces felony charges of impersonating an officer, carrying a concealed weapon and using a weapon in the commission of a crime. The charges carry a maximum sentence of fifteen years imprisonment. Earlier this month, a woman in Missouri was handcuffed by real police because she waited to pull over in a brightly lit area when she was unsure whether the unmarked car behind her was being driven by an actual police officer or not (view video). Several other states have similar problems with robbers and rapists taking advantage of police use of unmarked cars for traffic enforcement. Source: Former Police Intern Posed as Cop, Carried Gun, Stopped Cars (WTLV-TV (FL), 6/20/2008) Permanent Link for this item Return to Front Page

Front Page | Get Updates | Site Map | News Achive | Search | theNewspaper.com: A journal of the politics of driving