Retired FBI Agent Says Cop Impersonators Ratchet Up Public Distrust of Police

TMZ

The tragic shooting murders this weekend of a Minnesota politician and her husband, and the attempt on the lives of two others, who both survived -- was apparently pulled off by a police impersonator. Events like this are ratcheting up distrust between the public and law enforcement personnel ... and a former lawman breaks down what this trend means.

Transcript

00:00what do you do in times like this when people are posing as cops committing

00:09crimes in some cases murdering people and you don't know the good guys from

00:15the bad guys this is something not really all that new 25 years ago I was

00:18working cases as a drug agent in Atlanta Georgia where we had dope dealers who

00:24were ripping off other dope dealers houses for their product or for their

00:27money by by banging on the door three o'clock in the morning and yelling

00:30police and they would let them in that said there's the thing that jumps off

00:34the page about me is I'm reading the news reports and I'm just reading the

00:38news reports like you I have no inside knowledge of this is if someone comes to

00:42your door and they're locked they're knocking loudly or they're banging on

00:46your door they're saying police open the door they're making a demand they're not

00:49asking if you want to buy tickets to the policeman's ball they're not asking you

00:53know if you saw the the break-in next door they're making good demand to come

00:57into your house and normally that means one of two things it means a search

01:00warrant or means an arrest warrant and I don't know of a single reputable police

01:07department certainly not a federal agency that is ever going to send one

01:12officer one agent to your door to serve a search warrant or a police warrant a

01:17arrest warrant so that would have been the first red flag for me in the LA fires

01:23you had police fanning out going door to door in some cases we've seen that in

01:29other disasters and you don't know what's going on in the neighborhood it

01:34could be that there's a real thing and the police are trying to get to as many

01:38homes as possible so it is possible that one cop could come to your door is

01:43there a question that you could ask them that's gonna lead to you know more

01:49information that you would feel comfortable and your point is well made

01:52it's all context obviously if it's in the middle of a fire I might be more more

01:56expecting something like this to happen than just in the dead middle of the

01:59night with with nothing else going on in my neighborhood I think the thing I

02:03would ask them is what department are you with what's your badge number let me

02:06see some ID that's that's where I but but but you open the door that's the

02:11problem yeah but you can ask those questions through the door I hate to say

02:15this because I'm a fed I'm a retired general law enforcement officer most of

02:20my good friends are either still in or were in law enforcement the state local

02:23and federal level for years and years but we've reached a point now where you

02:27just can't trust that the person knocking on your door has necessarily got

02:30your best interest in mind and we've got to start taking matters into our own

02:34hands I don't I don't mean shooting through the door but I mean we've got to

02:37be uber cautious and and it starts with with ascertaining really who's on the

02:41other side of that door there has been so much violence in this country and

02:45violence against police officers so if people are starting to think they're

02:50not legit they're not legit and you're on the other side of that barrier and the

02:54other and the person on the other side is trying to get in or get at you you

02:59could end up having a shootout with a legitimate with a legitimate cop because

03:03people are so on edge and skeptical and it's not only could it's not it's not a

03:08possible you know hypothetical situation it happens all the time cops are

03:12getting shot on uh on traffic stops cops are getting shot at uh at search

03:17warrants all the time when I was handing somebody uh for instance a subpoena to

03:22come to court not even an arrest warrant I'd hand them a subpoena I would

03:25identify myself I'd show them my FBI credentials they'd say how do I know this

03:28is real um and this is this is 25 years ago when I first started out as an FBI

03:33agent this was going on people have got a healthy I'm not gonna say disrespect but and

03:39some disrespect but a skepticism of of all things law enforcement related and it's

03:44you know now you're kind of getting that irresistible force needs a movable object

03:48you know where um now now you got guys cosplaying as cops and you've got this this

03:54this this seething sort of distrust of the law of law enforcement already and this

03:59is going to get a lot worse for it gets better

04:00you

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