Yesterday, May 28, the New York State Senate passed legislation, sponsored by Senator Charles J. Fuschillo (R-Merrick), that would increase penalties for crimes committed while impersonating a police officer and expand criminal impersonation to include the impersonation of any law enforcement officer.
The bills passed just one day after a Levittown man pretending to be a police officer handcuffed and kidnapped a Farmingdale woman. The perpetrator held her captive in his car for 3 hours before releasing her. Christoper Mackrodt, 31, wore a NCPD police shirt, had handcuffs, BB guns, a fake badge and a laptop computer attached to his dashboard in a similar fashion to a police cruiser. He was arrested and charged with kidnapping, DWI, criminal impersonation and other traffic violations.
“Criminals who impersonate law enforcement prey upon the public’s trust and respect of police officers so that they can break the law with greater ease,” Senator Fuschillo said. “This crime is a very serious and dangerous threat to public safety. Raising the penalties for people who impersonate law enforcement in order to commit crimes will ensure that these fake officers get real punishment.”
“This bill will ensure that anyone who commits a crime while pretending to be a police officer spends more time in prison,” Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said. “As we saw in the Long Island case yesterday, despicable people can take advantage of others by impersonating an officer and they deserve greater punishment for their crime.”
The Senate passed legislation (S.3080) that creates the crime of committing an offense while impersonating a police officer or peace officer by: displaying a uniform, badge, or insignia; expressly claiming to be a police officer or peace officer; displaying a forward facing red light on the person’s vehicle or displaying other markings which give the appearance that the vehicle is a police vehicle.
For crimes up to class B felony (15 to 25 years in prison), such offenses would be bumped-up one category higher than the specified offense would have been, had the person not impersonated a police officer. In the incident Tuesday, if the suspect is convicted of kidnapping, he would serve a minimum of 20 years in prison, instead of 15 years, if this bill were law.
In addition, the Senate passed legislation (S.3079), also sponsored by Senator Fuschillo, to expand the scope of the crime of Criminal Impersonation in the first degree to include impersonation of not only a police officer but of any law enforcement officer, whether the title of such office or employment exists or is fictitious.
The bill is intended to prevent individuals who pretend to be law enforcement officers from avoiding the consequences of their actions, merely because they are not specifically pretending to be police officers as that term is defined in law.
The bill addresses instances in which prosecutors have declined to charge individuals with the first degree crime because the assumed identity did not fall within the legal descriptions of “police officer.”
In one case, an offender entered a business and displayed a shield and identification card indicating that he was a federal officer. He assaulted a female at the location and when challenged by others at the scene, he displayed the identification and stated, “Back up, I’m a cop.” The bystanders all later stated that they believed the person to be a federal officer.
When the offender was arrested, he was found in possession of a photo identification card from the Federal Officers Police Foundation and was charged with Criminal Impersonation in the first degree. However, the charge was dropped to the second degree crime, a class A misdemeanor, because the witnesses believed the offender to be a federal officer and not a “police officer.” The intent of this statute is to prevent anyone from assuming a false identity as a law enforcement officer and using that power and authority to commit a felony.
The bills were sent to the Assembly. As of 5/29, both bills remain in the NYS Assembly Codes Committee.
