Coloradans Warned About Police Impersonators Along Front Range
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Colorado law enforcement agencies are seeing an increase in police impersonators pulling over drivers to falsely "enforce" the governor's stay-at-home order. In the past week, three departments across the Front Range have posted warnings to their social media pages.
"Unfortunately people use situations like this to take advantage of people," explained Officer Matthew Longshore, a spokesman at the Aurora Police Department. "We want people to be armed with the information that we are not stopping people who are driving on the roadway just to find out where they are going."
The Aurora Police Department said on Wednesday around midnight, a woman reported she was pulled over near East 6th Avenue and Havana Street by a man in a dark colored Crown Victoria with emergency lights. She told officers the man was in a uniform, but something felt off.
"The uniform didn't have any patches. He didn't have a badge and he didn't have a name tag," Longshore said. "All he asked for was her driver's license."
Longshore said the man was described as a well-groomed young man, around 6 feet tall and 150 pounds.
Up north, on the morning of March 27, several residents reported to the Greeley Police Department they were waved through a fake roadblock and questioned for "violating the COVID-19 law."
The drivers said men were wearing reflective vests and told the drivers they could face a citation. This happened around 5 a.m. on the west end of Greeley, near the Promontory community.
Greeley police said no GPD officers, Weld County Sheriff's deputies or Colorado State Patrol troopers conducted these traffic stops.
"Our detective is working with the other agencies to see if these incidents were related," Longshore said.
The reports are concerning to law enforcement.
"We don't know what people's intentions are for pulling them over," said Longshore. "We don't know if it's to get to their personal information or something worse. We want people to be vigilant."
Longshore said if you are pulled over by a marked or unmarked vehicle, officers will always have some form of identification, like a badge or a patch. If you feel like something is off, don't hesitate to play it safe.
"If you feel uncomfortable, put your hazards on, go to a well-lit area and call 911," he said. "We just want our community to know that we are not pulling people over to check why they are on the roadway. That is not going to be one of our primary reasons for a stop."
RELATED: Latest Updates On The Coronavirus Outbreak In Colorado
