News: New Case Shows Need for Fake Police Badge Crack Down

Press Release

NEWS: NEW CASE SHOWS NEED FOR FAKE POLICE BADGE CRACK DOWN

After the dramatic reports that fake police badges were being distributed to bounty hunters, many of whom were convicted felons, Representative Anthony D. Weiner (D - Brooklyn and Queens) said there was a renewed need to crack down on the production and distribution of fake badges. Weiner, a member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security who sponsored legislation in the House to ban the transfer of fake badges, added that bounty hunters with fake badges not only encourages vigilantes to take justice into their own hands, but also gives criminals another tool to prey on the unsuspecting public.

Recent reports have found that the owners of the U.S. Recovery Bureau, a school to train individuals to be bounty hunters, were handing out fake police badges to graduates of the program - many of whom were convicted felons at the time they underwent the training. These former convicts then used the badges to impersonate cops during a string of robberies.

The fake badges distributed by the group had a similar design, color, and inscription as badges worn by New York City police officers.

The NYPD receives more than 1,200 complaints each year about impersonators using fake badges to commit crimes. In May 2005, federal authorities arrested a Bronx man after discovering 1,300 fake badges in his home, as well as drugs and guns.

Rep. Weiner said, "It used to be with a few dollars and the click of a mouse, anyone could impersonate a New York City police officer. Now we have vigilantes handing badges to former convicts without any regard to public safety. The logic is simple: if you are not a police officer you should not be wearing a police badge."

In 2006, Weiner's legislation to ban the sale of counterfeit police badges was passed into law.

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