By Holly Yan
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Tex. — The markings on the car were so believable, they fooled real law-enforcement officials.
A Dallas County sheriff’s deputy was on Interstate 20 near Bonnie View Road late Wednesday afternoon when he thought he saw a police car zip past him.
“At first glance, he thought it was another police agency on a hot call,” said Michael Ortiz, spokesman for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department. “But he took a closer look at the decals on the car, and it wasn’t any agency that he had seen before.”
The deputy pulled the driver over for speeding. He and others who arrived at the scene soon became more suspicious.
The decals on the car simply said “Dallas, Texas” but were designed in a way that looked very similar to those on sheriff’s deputy cars. The driver had a BB gun fashioned to look like a police gun. The dashboard camera was fake and mounted with Velcro. Deputy Ortiz said investigators also found handcuffs, a walkie-talkie and a scanner set to monitor county law-enforcement channels.
Authorities arrested the driver, Malcolm Hawkinson, 39, for having an improper vehicle registration and failing to show adequate insurance. Investigators might file a charge of impersonating a peace officer if they determine Mr. Hawkinson intended to mislead anyone into thinking he was an officer.
Mr. Hawkinson, a registered sex offender, was released from the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on a “promise to appear” citation. Details of that charge were not available. Mr. Hawkinson could not be reached for comment.
Sheriff’s deputies called the vehicle’s owner, who owns a car repossession business.
“He said he put the decals on the vehicle, but he did it for the protection of his employees,” Deputy Ortiz said. “He finds there is less resistance when [people] are approached by someone they think is a police officer.”
The Sheriff’s Department declined to identify the owner, who was not arrested.
“It’s not against the law to possess a vehicle with the insignia,” Deputy Ortiz said. “What makes it against the law is how you use it.” He noted that the owner was not caught using the vehicle.
By Thursday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Department received several calls from women who said they were treated inappropriately during traffic stops. Officials had not determined whether the cases are linked to Mr. Hawkinson.
Authorities also were investigating documents found from the traffic stop.
“There were papers that were drawn up to look like repossession paperwork,” Deputy Ortiz said. “They were crimped with some seal and drawn up to look official. We’re looking to see if that paperwork is really official [or] whether this was auto theft.”
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News