Fake cops mean real threat for drivers - WFLA-TV Newschannel 8

If a marked car turned on flashing lights, you'd know it's the real deal. But what if the car looked blank with no law enforcement insignias? Last Monday, a fake cop in a plain white Crown Victoria, pulled a driver over in Hernando County.  It happened again early Monday evening.

The Hernando County Sheriff said, the crime lessons faith in law enforcement. "We go by the premise that people should trust us. And anytime there's somebody out there that is putting doubt in the minds of the citizens when it comes to their interaction with law enforcement, it's a bad thing," said Sheriff Al Nienhuis. 

The latest fake cop is about 45 years old with brown hair and gray mustache, driving a white crown vic. Using a flashing red light, he pulled a woman over near Waterfall Drive and Bern Lane in Spring Hill. From there this wanna-be cop made his victim drive almost a mile to the parking lot of a medical office. When he got there, he put her through a sobriety check to see if she was drunk. Hernando deputies think it's a different guy from last week's stop.

The Sheriff thinks the men involved may enjoy having the power of a deputy. "The other motivation might be that their intent is to rob or hurt these people and they're building up the nerve to that and that is the one that really scares us," Sheriff Nienhuis said.  Real cops want to catch the fake cops before something goes wrong.