
Some police officers or law enforcement personnel (such as detectives) wear plain clothes or drive unmarked cars. If it is old or beat up, does not have the proper markings, or does not have the blue flashing lights, you should be wary. It is a good idea to pay attention to the vehicle of the person who pulls you over. Police officers are also the only people in Virginia who are allowed to have red, white, and blue flashing lights on their vehicles. Each one carries a card (similar to a Driver’s License) that identifies him or her as a police officer. Real police officers will usually wear a uniform, a utility belt, a badge with a badge number on it, and their name on the front of their uniform.

How can I tell the difference between a fake police officer and a real one? If you would like to know more, see the full text of the law about impersonating officers. This means you could be fined up to $2,500 and spend up to five years in prison. If you are caught doing this a second time or more, you will be charged with a Class 6 Felony. This means you could be fined up to $2,500 or spend up to 1 year in jail. If you impersonate a police officer, marshal, or any other law enforcement officer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, you will be charged with a Class 1 Misdemeanor. What is the penalty for impersonating a police officer? You could wear a police uniform, complete with badges while filming a television role but if you wore that outside filming and yelled, “Stop! Police!” to make someone think you were a real officer, you could be arrested. For instance, you could wear a semi-realistic police uniform as a Halloween costume but if you tried to pull someone over or perform a search and seizure while wearing the costume, that would be illegal. What is illegal is purposely making people think you are a police officer. It is not even illegal to wear them, say, for a Halloween costume or an acting role. However, it is not illegal to purchase (real or fake) police uniforms, gear, or badges, or to own those things. It is illegal to pose as a police officer and/or try to perform police duties. What counts as impersonating a police officer?

But what does that mean? How can you tell if someone is a fake police or real police? And what is the penalty for impersonating an officer? We go over that and more in this post about how to identify fake police officers. Impersonating a police officer is a crime.
