Police warn of possible police impersonator at Volunteer Park
SEATTLE -- Seattle Police detectives are warning the public about a possible police impersonator who has been seen at Volunteer Park over the past two weeks.
The first incident happened on Dec. 19 when a man told police he was in the park restroom when he was approached by another man who claimed to be an undercover officer.
The impersonator told the victim he needed to see his wallet and check his driver's license, which the victim allowed. The thief then said he and his "partner" were conducting an undercover operation inside the park, and that the victim would need to stay out of not only Volunteer, but Woodland Park and the Arboretum as well.
It wasn't until the victim was at work the next day when he noticed a credit card was missing and then he returned home to several messages from his bank alerting him to possible fraud activity.
The second incident happened Wednesday -- again in the Volunteer Park restroom. The victim said the impersonator had a gold colored badge on his waistband. Again, the impersonator told the victim that he needed to see ID and then told him to leave the area due to an undercover operation. The victim went to work, then noticed cash was missing from his wallet.
Police only have a generic description of the suspect, but remind everyone if you have doubts about an undercover officer's authenticity, ask for a uniformed officer or supervisor to come to the scene - or just call 911.
The first incident happened on Dec. 19 when a man told police he was in the park restroom when he was approached by another man who claimed to be an undercover officer.
The impersonator told the victim he needed to see his wallet and check his driver's license, which the victim allowed. The thief then said he and his "partner" were conducting an undercover operation inside the park, and that the victim would need to stay out of not only Volunteer, but Woodland Park and the Arboretum as well.
It wasn't until the victim was at work the next day when he noticed a credit card was missing and then he returned home to several messages from his bank alerting him to possible fraud activity.
The second incident happened Wednesday -- again in the Volunteer Park restroom. The victim said the impersonator had a gold colored badge on his waistband. Again, the impersonator told the victim that he needed to see ID and then told him to leave the area due to an undercover operation. The victim went to work, then noticed cash was missing from his wallet.
Police only have a generic description of the suspect, but remind everyone if you have doubts about an undercover officer's authenticity, ask for a uniformed officer or supervisor to come to the scene - or just call 911.
Like the old saying goes "There's a sucker born every minute."
Please KOMO, I have familiy and friends that go to Volunteer Park. All my neighbors go there. I would hardly call the description included in the police blotter to be "generic."Â
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It makes absolutely no sense to me that you would intentionally omit an important description like this. I understand that very few KOMO employees probably live in Seattle, but your readers actually do.Â
 @lakeview Their reporting is getting worse and worse.  They frequently leave out pertinent details like this.
This reminds me of when I went up to the juvenile detention center in Seattle. I needed to get a confession from a kid, about 15 yrs old. So, I went plain clothed, dressed like a teenager, and drove the patrol car. I'm short and look young. I ended the interrogation and not being familiar with the place I was wandering around in the hall looking for a door, any way out. One of the guards asked me "What do you think you are doing?" I said "I'm trying to get out of here!" he said "Isn't everybody in here trying to get out? Now come on." I started laughing, pulled my badge and ID, he was laughing so hard. I didn't live that one down for a LONG time.
Sorry way off subject..just made me remember. Other than that, after I made detective I did a lot of "knock and talks" but rarely asked for any ID unless I thought I had a suspect.
Call 911 if you EVER have a bad feeling, or you just want to be safe. A real cop won't care, they will actually be happy you are being safe.Â
Yes, I did get the confession.Â
call 911, see if the cop is real, please. yep ! more then ever before , unfortunately , you have no reason to feel embarrassed , and better safe then stupid i might add.
Just say no and go about your business. Why would a cop ask for ID in the restroom?
What the hell KOMO? Post the description!
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"white male, 40, 5Ⲡ5Ⳡ150 pounds, with blonde, longish hair. He was dressed in all dark clothing, and it appeared that he had a gold badge attached to his waistband or belt."
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I frequent Volunteer Park all the time. Even a vague description can help. It is ridiculous that you would waste your time writing this article and then leave out the most important part! Outrageous.Â
I'm still pondering a generic description....
King County Sheriffs have historically been the ones bone headed enough to have plain clothes cops directly approach the uninvolved public. In Seattle, unless they are doing a drug sting and you have clearly engaged in a transaction in some way (and you'll know whether you have or not), it is highly doubtful someone not in a full uniform would approach you as a member of the public. For some reason Capitol Hill has had a number of these in the past year or two. More community groups and schools with older students need to get the word out and SPD should do some outreach on the hill to raise awareness of what real cops do and do not do. And even SPD detectives drive cars that look very official.Â