A year in review.

With another year in the past, we decided to dedicate an article on the interesting stories of 2007. Enjoy!

On 02/02 a kid named Ethnies made the rounds on several message forums professing he wasn’t a wannabe anymore. Ethnies bought a 9C1 cruiser and added some police items to it for the wannabe rush. He was warned about it from several people but with the wannabe mentality, ignored the warnings. Ethnies was busted and pulled all of the equipment out of his vehicle as a result. After this, he went to other message boards to claim his “changed” attitude. This backfired and Ethnies has disappeared from a lot of forums.

04/07 I started an article on sticker whackers. Sticker whackers (SW) are those who take a little too much pride in their vehicle mounted sticker collection. Mainly SW’s are living the dream in a volunteer world and the volunteerism spreads to their personal life enveloping them.

With the update on 05/05, Colonel Paul Broussard was finally arrested. This was a self proclaimed colonel of his very own REACT club. With vehicles adorned with official style decals, the Colonel setup his own REACT charter and even changed the words of REACT to suite his ego trip. With the mental condition of the Colonel, all of this came to a clash when the real authorities were called to his trailer and a shootout ensued.

Update on 05/15 revealed some ground breaking yet disturbing information. By dumb luck, someone came across the “Mile High Whackers” and the whirlwind of fun resulted from it. A group of kids with memberships of various organizations, emergency lights on their POV’s, and lack of purpose hit the roads in the Longmont, CO area. They made a video showing off their lights that were legally mounted as the owner was a member of an emergency organization. After repeated attempts to downplay and even hide the matter, it was addressed by the authorities. All parties got a slap on the hand due to their age but their legacy lives on.

My opinion on plow whackers spurred a hate letter and with the update of 07/17, I addressed it. I learned with some people, there is no such thing as too much and amber lights are a right, not a privilege, and I am an “idiot,” “hater,” and a “loser.”  This showed me how much of an offense someone can take on the internet and was the longest hate letter to date.

On 08/03, I went over how a security guard can look like a cop. I used to work security myself and think they are a great asset to society, however, this list demonstrates there is plenty of material they use to confuse the public. This also marked the first time I let contributors help me out directly with the front page articles.

A new term was coined on 08/16, “Amber Light Clubs.” I have used this term in conversations before but it was never based anywhere. Since then, this term has popped up in numerous circles describing groups such as REACT.

Due to my lack of any mentioning of the WTC tragedy, a letter was spurred by some young clueless volunteer fire fighter living the dream and gave material for my update on 09/12. This is the time I shared my thoughts on the matter. They proved to be offensive to others. Such is life.

Shortly afterwards, we celebrated our one year anniversary with a special update on 09/14 by Brian B. on his take of whackerism and wannabeism in society.

Rolling with the strikes, we featured a four year anniversary of the TAMSAR episode on 09/18. This was given in two parts of a “what happened” and a “the results.” It covered the fabled tales of Jamie and his counterparts as they roamed the New Mexico interior tricking local law enforcement and playing the law enforcement role. They exploits came to a crashing halt when someone blew the whistle. Due to statute of limitations, very little consequence resulted to the incidents. With the current information, Jamie is still living the dream.

On the 10/26 update, we finished up a two part article on how security strives to look like police to confuse the public. The article featured two companies who do this well through photos and stories submitted by viewers.

11/16 brought a special report of lighting abuse. Although the video says it all, a correctional officer (non-sworn) was running red lights and a siren in a city owned vehicle to a non-emergency meeting and hit an innocent driver. A cover-up ensued and only after hitting the news via an investigative reporter, did the victim get his money and this sad state of lighting abuse hit the public’s eyes.

When tempers flare....

To give you a little back ground, I posted the surveys mentioned below on four forums including ours. The surveys were deleted off of crownvic forums in short time due to their sympathy for whackers and general impostors, turned into a HS clique started attack fest on radioreference until it was locked down. The surveys weren’t meant to offend or even offensive to those who I have showed. However, the responses to the surveys show that the whacker problem exists, but most don’t want to deal with it until it affects them. This type of attitude is becoming common place in American society. As you can see below, some whackers were emotionally hurt by the surveys and chose to write their feelings on the subject, this website, and even me.

Just shut the [CENSORED] up already. I really don’t get why the [CENSORED] you would keep going on your wacker attacks since you are one. Your web page talking about your own type is about as [CENSORED] lame as someone making a web site on the retards at their school. You might think your leet because of it and your buddies might think the same but to the others, your just a retard like the ones your picking on. One thing you don’t realize is how stupid you sound when post your filth everywhere else. You might not realize it but NO ONE CARES! I repeat, no one cares about you or what you have to think. Wacker is a term made up by idiots like you who have nothing else better to do than ridicule others because they see themselves in a mirror and have to make others look worse. You and your fans are the small minority and you are already unpopular and will be nothing more than a memory in due time. You non popularity is already gone as you got your self baned from hamsexy for flipping out because they called you out for being a whacker and now because of your little rant via survey you are on the point of being baned at crownvic.net and radioreference.com. by how you act, your time at elightbars.org is about up as there are several people there trying to ban you. Like hamsexy all over again? You are a has been that was never anything and your desperation of spilling you filth to other forums that hate you further proves my point. Soon you will be all alone pushing your opinions down the throat of those who don’t give two [CENSORED] about your made up facts and opinions. You are a security wannabe and will only be a security wannabe and hiding what you are doesn’t make sense because you rag on about it on your pathetic web page. I know you still work security because we checked up on you. You think you are cool and liked but everyone talks [CENSORED] behind your back. You might think you have fans but they also talk [CENSORED] behind your back like everyone else. People who have lights have never killed anyone or hurt anyone. You exaggerate a non-existent problem and make people worry for no reason. Imposters are almost never around and you make it sound like it is an epidemic. You are best to just to disappear and grow a set of balls and face your fears rather than point and make fun of innocent people from your pathetic excuse for a web page. Your page just makes the other whacker web sites better. Ohh wait, there are none because it is made up of lies and filth no one gives a two [CENSORED] about.

As you can see, a lot of emotion and personal opinion went into that little rant. Also there are a lot of misconceptions and general bad/old information about me in there. So let’s start there.

1. I used to work security and no longer do. Whoever told you I work security needs to update their information.

2. The Hamsexy issue is a lot deeper than being called a self loathing whacker and being banned for it. They like to press that button a lot and still do, more power to them. Internet is serious business.

3. This web site has got the attention of several public safety related sites in a positive manner and has been featured in more than two media outlets, also in a positive manner.

4. I get accused of being a whacker, wannabe, and even an impostor with a CVPI a lot. However, none of these people know me in person and when offered to come meet me in person, the invitations go unanswered. They assume this web site is my life and I am obsessed with the whacker issue, both of which are untrue and pure speculation.

The paragraph is a great example of how a whacker will react when they are offended. If you notice, they try their best to offend me and mentally undermine what this web site stands for. The paragraph also illustrates how the whacker is pulling facts and assumptions from thin air to make their argument against policeposers. As a further act of a whacker, they completed the survey and posted this paragraph using an anonymous internet proxy. The true sign of a coward.

Looking like a cop makes me all fuzzy inside.

A thing we have been noticing here at policeposers is the growing trend for younger males to buy retired police cruisers and get the rush from driving them. The rush doesn’t come from the small block V8 or the rear wheel drive, it comes from the accessories that they add to their rides to confuse the public. A common trend is for this type of owner to add items to their retired police cruisers that are listed below to get the rush when someone refuses to pass for them or slows down when they see the retired cruiser in all its glory. If you hit the “enthusiast” forums for these vehicles, you will find the owners asking about the legality of adding these accessories or looking for opinions of their brethren on how “official” their ride looks. The deep down honest reason for all of this is most of these younger males lack power in their real lives. For this they use their rides to express power while they giggle like little school girls as people are confused what to do when the ride is spotted.

What wannabes add to retired cruisers after they obtain them.

1. Police Interceptor sticker

2. Spotlights (Either one on the passenger side or both, you know, for finding addresses at night or back roads.)

3. Center caps (even though the car came with full wheel covers)

4. Driving lights (usually goes along with a push bar)

5. Brake lights on the rear deck

6. Stickers ( Be it K-9, some kind of three digit number, or P-71)

7. CB antenna/s (To fill in the holes)

8. PA (On the CB or, more often than not, it's own entity.)

9. Reflective strips (On the bumper. To be seen at night.)

10. Scanner.

11. Police baseball cap openly displayed somewhere in the car.

12. Removes chrome or "street appearance" trim for the subtle look.

13. Limo tint on all windows.

14. Added strobes/dash lights/LED's (to supplement broken hazards or other "conveniently" broken OEM equipment.)

15. Push bumpers (to protect the vehicle bumpers from shopping carts.)

16. Red and blue pieces of paper stapled/taped to the driver's visor or dash/rear deck.

17. Prisoner partition "cage."

18. Empty weapon mounts.

19. Handcuffs hanging from the spotlight handles or the gear shifter.

20. Laptop (MDC/T) (for GPS/listening to MP3s.)

21. DARE license plates or plate frames or DARE or "Domestic Abuse" bumper stickers.

Some of these items do come with cruisers at auction and we understand that. However, more than not, a lot of these items are added after the cruisers are bought by the new owners. The above list will give you a good example of what you will find on retired cruisers owned by people with a power issue or two.

Security and Police are two different animals.

This video was posted on our forums. This goes to show why I don’t think security should try confusing the public with the use of police cruisers and lighting. As you can see, when surrounded by the environment of police equipment, you will eventually think you are police and slip up. As you can see from the news report, two security guards were accused of pursuing copper thieves on public streets using their vehicle’s illegal lights and siren to blow through busy intersections before the real police showed up. Both vehicles alledgely contained illegal lights and sirens (installation and use are restricted in California). As the police officer stated in the video and I have said, security are to observe and report, nothing more.

Never late to a meeting due to my lights.

This week we bring you another type of story. This type of story is still happening but not as common as the unofficial whacker or amber light club. This week we bring you supposed lighting abuse by public officials. In the following investigative reporter story, a civilian correctional was running “code” using one light going at pursuit speeds and hit an innocent bystander. Now wrecks aren’t all too uncommon and they do happen. The problem with this wreck was the major cover up that followed it and the attitude that county took towards paying back the person involved to pay for damages. The “colonel” who was accused of driving the CVPI with only a light (no siren) was not using this combination for responding to an emergency but to go to a “meeting” and nothing more. It was found out by the investigative reporter that correctional officers are given emergency vehicle status on their small fleet of vehicles including CVPI’s for such reasons. Only after did the tough questions get asked and the proper authorities contacted did the story start to unfold and the victim receive money due to him for property damages. Without these actions, the victim wouldn’t have seen any money nor would he even have received a simple apology.

Original Source

Metro ENFORCEMENT, Security wannabe expert at your service

Sorry to break into you regularly scheduled programming but we have some photos to share. These were submitted to our site through a fan and show how a little security can go a long way. "Long way" as in a run away train on a power trip. We give you, Metro Enforcement (self appointed of course). This is what the submitter had to say.

I have one down the street that bought a chevy Lumina and put "Investigator" along with his "unit" number on the back. Guy runs around with his "uniform" on 24/7. I asked him what company he works for and got "Private Security and Escort Service" but could not produce a valid guard license from the city. The guy likes to "Patrol" the apartment complex asking what the kids are doing out so late. He stopped me while on my evening walk and satrted asking questions. My first question to him was: "If your a cop, then I need some LE issued ID." That ended that conversation as he thanked me for my time and to have a good evening.

Picture #1

Picture #2

Notice the small text on the words that aren’t associated with power. With most businesses, a company name is more important than what they do (or want you to believe what they do). When you see a decal on the side of a van saying “Joe’s Carpet Cleaning Service”, you probably don’t see the word “Joe” in small letter hiding among the other words. This type of large/small letter confusion is popular with security companies as they try to use their decals to give them the edge of power along with other ways of confusing the public. Something to think about.

Remember and honor those who served our country on Veteran’s Day.

Imaginary Power Through Imitation, Part 2

This week we wrap up on our report on security companies taking the look of true law enforcement for the power trip and public confusion. For this update, we will be featuring two different submissions that show a clear intention of security companies taking small or even large steps to confuse the public into making them think they are law enforcement. First we will start with a submission from New Mexico. I will let Brian tell you the rest:

This f-troop calls themselves "NEW MEXICO CRIME PREVENTION", and you guessed it, NOWHERE on their uniforms or vehicle livery is there any mention of the fact they are actually nothing more than private security guards.

They are illegally using the NM State Great Seal in their "company" emblem and have a subversive company name that deceives the public to their feigned authority. To top it all off, they wear all black uniforms and gunbelts of a design nearly identical to Albuquerque PD. Emergency lights consist of a RED/BLUE Dashmiser up front (illegal) and a RED/BLUE Firebeam on the rear package shelf (mounted on a 2x4). On the seat of the white Chevy was clipboard of fake "citations" made on a word-processor program.

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Picture #4

Just when I think I have seen enough...his supervisor rolls up in this:

Picture #5

Picture #6

Yes that is a old RADAR on the dash.

For comparison, an authentic NM State Police car:

Picture #7

Picture #8

Notice the dead-ringer paintjob the wannabe commissioned and even the coping of the dashlight/radar in the windshield.

So, I reported a police impersonator into the police non-emergency dispatch. A few minutes later, a marked APD unit arrives. The posers flock to the "real cop" who in turn briefly questions them. In only a two minute encounter, he then puts his cruiser in reverse and departs without so much as verifying the licenses of the impersonators. He leaves with the illegally equipped vehicle unaltered and the men without citation. A clear abortion of the rule of law and nothing short of an official endorsement of these illegal activities in the minds of the impersonators.

I want to add that since starting this site, I’ve noticed a few in the law enforcement community and the public in general don’t care about the whacker and impostor problem. They only start to care when it affects them at a personal level. Some law enforcement officer opinions are they don’t care until there is a victim that was physically hurt or the color abuse includes colors that the LE uses.

The next submission is from California. For those who are unaware, California is pretty strict with security guards in their state. Security guards have to perform a minimum amount of training (40 hours) to be certified to take to the street with their duties. All vehicles used in the performance of security duties must have a minimal set of markings such as their PPO (Private Patrol Operator) number and markings to differentiate them from being confused with the real law enforcement. Usually security vehicles without the PPO number being displayed are operating illegally.

Below you will see a security company try to hide the fact that they are security and nothing more. By employing realistic decal themes while using “stealth” or hard to see graphics to keep on the legal edge, they can easily be mistaken as police units.

Here Example #1 and Example #2 can show what a deceptive and cunning decal and light package does to an ordinary vehicle, makes it look like a police vehicle. Although the words "patrol" and the police style "Emergency Dial 911" placards are on the vehicle, it lacks the mention of any type of security or guard decals. With that being said, lets take a closer look and we see where security is mentioned. Did they put it there to eliminate public confusion with the public? No, they did it to keep on the legal side of a razor fine edge of the law. For those of you who aren't familiar with these type of graphics, they are called stealth graphics. The are the same color as the vehicle and only appear when reflecting light. Stealth graphics are mainly used by undercover law enforcement vehicles and people liking the thrill of having official markings without having them visible most of the time. In this same group of pictures we also find personal armor with everything mentioned but security including the words "Special Officer."

Also we find this security vehicle. Yes I said security vehicle and not police vehicle. If you can't see this unit has lights by the rear view mirror and probably has a siren of some sort. If you look at the rear of the vehicle you can see it has two bumper stickers. One is a DARE sticker and the other sticker is speaking against Domestic Abuse. Both stickers are rare on civilian vehicles and are mostly found on police vehicles, project supporters, or vehicles driven by wannabes/impostors. This vehicle was located across the street from our SUV mentioned above and lacks a PPO number or other security licensing identification.

With all that being said, hopefully this article gives you a decent view of the problems with public confusion. The training and even job duties drastically differ from standard security officer to full time police officer. The two work together on many issues but the jobs are largely not interchangeable. Some security companies and even guards don't see it this way and try to confuse the innocent public into making them think they are capable of law enforcement duties. Some states have taken steps to separate the two and make sure that security entities can't confuse the public but as stated above, these rules are largely ignored until the security companies either hurt the law enforcement directive or hurt the public.

Imaginary Power Through Imitation, Part 1

Security has made amazing strides in the last few decades. Some of those strides have gone in a direction that isn’t for the better. As you might have noticed, we have talked about security guards trying to reach the look of a police officer in an attempt to confuse the general public. This is known as “power through imitation” as they are trying to confuse the public to gain the respect that the public would give law enforcement officials. This can be done in several ways such as using names and phrases that police would use such as “patrol” and “enforcement” and trying to physically look like the police such as using uniforms and vehicles that law enforcement currently uses for that area. Security officers will defend the usage of these items to the end due to the fact it does make their job easier by confusing the public. This only works until the public does realize these “police officers” are merely citizens who have no powers above an average citizen. Once this happens, the rouse is up and the wannabe card is pulled and the security industry takes another reputation hit. The sad reality is that these security guards who look like cops get less respect than if they weren’t dressed like the police.

Some security companies have taken active roles in trying to take over police jobs. Some openly advertise that they are “police department replacements” in a gamble to get more clients. So we are on the same page, there is no private replacement for the police. The only exception are security forces that assist and work with the police in troubled areas, personal protection, or high risk special events. Most times these are specially trained companies ran by former military or law enforcement members utilizing the same type of people as themselves for employees. This type of security is in a category in it’s own and not the type we discuss on this web site.

A friend says it best;

There are companies and guards that have no real prior training, and have no powers of arrest, and/or little to no endorsement by local government. Then there are those that are trained, with limited powers of arrest, that work along side law enforcement, and on private areas/people.

Next update we will discuss some on the topic and show pictures submitted by viewers on how security companies take steps to hide their real identity to trick the public they are real law enforcement.