DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997            TAG: 9702250203

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   38 lines

POLICE IMPERSONATOR STOPS SUFFOLK TEEN-AGER

Real police officers wear badges, carry guns and show identification cards.

Recently, a man described by police as a fake officer stopped a teen-age girl by flashing a blue light in the rear window of his car. The impersonator searched her and her vehicle before letting her go, police spokesman Mike Simpkins said Monday.

Detective E.C. Harris is investigating the case, which was described by police this way:

A man in a white, mid-sized car stopped a 17-year-old girl driving eastbound on the U.S. Route 58 Bypass between Godwin Boulevard and Wilroy Road about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

He stopped her for speeding, he said, then inspected her driver's license and registration. After searching her and the back seat and trunk of her car, he said she could leave, that she had done nothing wrong.

He was described as white, about 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11, about 190 pounds, with brown hair, an unshaven face and a wide, flat nose that curled at the end. He was wearing black pants, a black waist-length coat with patches on the sleeves and a brown Stetson-style hat.

Simpkins said any city police officer would have a badge and identification card. Uniformed officers are in full uniform and hat, with a gun visible and a name plate on the left side of the shirt and a badge on the right.

If stopped by someone who cannot produce proper identification, drive to a well-populated, lighted area and wait for an officer there, Simpkins said. Get out of the car only after the officer is properly identified, he said.

Police also asked motorists who are approached by a suspicious individual to report the incident to the authorities and give a description of the person and vehicle. MEMO: To report any crime to Suffolk police, call 925-1439. In

emergency, call 911.

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