Police Impersonator On Prowl

DENVER -- Someone is impersonating a Denver police officer and has already pulled over two women. The women were not hurt, but authorities are asking the public to help find him before he tries something brazen.

One 19-year-old victim was pulled over on Tuesday near 6th and Santa Fe in broad daylight, Denver police said. The woman said the fake cop was driving a white sedan with flashing red, white and blue lights above the rear seat.

She said the man, who showed her a wallet badge, made her do a series of sobriety tests.

The day before, another 19-year-old woman was stopped on Interstate 25, about a mile north of Castle Rock at about 3:30 p.m. The man was dressed like a police officer, with navy blue pants and shirt. He had no patches but a metal name tag and a pistol, cuff case, and older-type straight baton, the Colorado State Patrol said.

The suspect told the driver that he stopped her for not having an emissions sticker and asked for her license. The man then took her license back to his car, wrote down information, returned to the victim's vehicle, and copied down her home phone number, the CSP said. He told her he was releasing her with a warning.

In both cases the suspects were described similarly. The women said the police impersonator is a white man, about 35 years old, with short medium brown hair and about 6 feet tall.

If you have any doubt when you are pulled over, police say you can ask any officer for identification through a closed window and ask the officer to have a marked police car respond to the scene.

If you do get pulled over, make sure you activate your vehicle's emergency flashers and stop at a well-lit, public location.

If anyone has information related to these incidents you are asked to call the Colorado State Patrol at (303) 239-4501.

The state passed a new law this year imposing tougher penalties for police impersonator. The law increased the penalty for impersonating a peace officer from a class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000, to a class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a maximum fine of $5,000.

The law was brought to the forefront because of the murder and abduction of University of Northern Colorado student Lacy Miller in early January. Police said Jason Peder Clausen, 22, posed as a police officer to pull the 20-year-old student over near her house.