Man Pretends to Be Cop, Goes to Jail

Tuesday, 07 June 2011 | by Pat's Picks

An Oregon man had his hands up, ready to surrender to a police officer who’d chased him down and was threatening to use a Taser when he began to question the man’s motives. Good thing he did. The Oregonian says the “cop” was actually just a citizen, armed with a smartphone app that mimics a police scanner. The caper began with an episode of road rage, says the paper. The “cop,” dressed in street clothes and driving a Chrysler Sebring, gave chase after being cut off by a 29-year-old man. After attempts to get the driver to pull over failed, the “cop” sped ahead of the car and cut it off. Onlookers were convinced they were witnessing a real arrest: “His whole demeanor was perfect. I mean, it was absolutely flawless. I thought, ‘This guy’s caught somebody.’”

The story doesn’t say which scanner app the guy was using, but here’s one if you are curious how it works.