I was recently browsing through twitter and happened to see a police officer pointing out that you could purchase a ‘Metropolitan Police Printed Lanyard’ on Amazon which was being sold under the pretence of it being used as a movie prop. It got me thinking, what exactly can I purchase online and how close could I come to impersonating a police officer? So, I set out browsing on two of the most popular buying/selling websites that you can find, eBay and Amazon.
There are plenty of legitimate sites that sell authentic police equipment which, unlike eBay and Amazon, require you to have proof that you are employed in the police (warrant number/name/force etc) and so only buyers authorised to purchase such items are able to do so. I browsed for a total of around 15 minutes to see what I could find with generic searches and what I could kit myself out with as an aspiring police impersonator.
First of all, I visited amazon. A quick search later and I had already found a ‘metropolitan police printed lanyard’ with an ID holder. The same seller had also listed a ‘Police United Kingdom’ warrant card holder (with a badge). If you are not as clued up on policing as me, you may likely believe that is the real deal. More worrying than the item itself was the answer to a question about it. The question read ‘What is this really like and is it any good and does it fool people’ to which the reply ‘a metal one and does fool people’ was received. Yikes. Who knows what nefarious activities ‘Amazon Customer’ has been up to with their warrant card holder! Once you have purchased your lanyard and warrant card holder, you can head to eBay to get kitted out even further.
On eBay I was able to find ex police stab vests and jackets, all of which contained the blue and white Sillitoe tartan ribbon on them. I was also able to fork out multiple different obsolete ARV officer vests for the budding firearms copper impersonators among you. All that is missing from these items of clothing before they look near identical to real coppers on the street are the large ‘POLICE’ patches on the back and front which can easily be purchased eBay as well. The majority of these items of clothing were in top nick and thus all the more believable. There’s still something missing though, hm, I wonder what? That’s right, a ‘brand new metropolitan police helmet’. This piece is, in my eyes, identical to the ones the officers of the Met wear currently. If no-one is believing your DS Arnott fancy dress just yet or they think you’re the ‘dancer’ that your mate ordered for your party then all you need to buy is a pair of ‘Genuine TCH840 Hiatt handcuffs’ and you’re ready to police the streets of Lonerville. I can understand security personnel or perhaps collectors wanting to purchase these ex-police clothes and other items but without any stops in place, anyone could buy them. Reported by ukfinance.org.uk, from January to June this year, over 8220 cases of impersonation for criminal purposes involved someone claiming to be from the police or the bank, a year-on-year rise of 94%. Many of these scams involve the criminal calling up an unsuspecting victim but if they turn up in person, could these items available online be helping them in their acts? Who knows…
At the end of the day, if you have nothing better to do than trawl the internet, buying ex-police clothes and kit and you don’t have a reasonable explanation, I feel more sorry for you than anything.
