A WARNING has been issued after a fake copper stopped and searched a Barnsley woman as she walked home alone at night.
Kelly Green, 22, was making her way on foot from Darton to Kexborough at about 11pm on Friday when she was stopped by what she thought was a marked police car on the motorway bridge at Churchfield Lane.
She said a man dressed in a police uniform got out of the car - which had blue lights and checkered insignia - who told her he was going to search her on suspicion of carrying drugs.
Kelly told the Barnsley Chronicle: “This copper pulled me up and I was thinking ‘what are you pulling me up for’ and he was saying he wanted to do a search because of drugs in the area.
“He told me to empty my pockets and patted me down.
“He searched me and didn’t give me any papers or anything to say why I had been searched or his name.
“He went then, and I rang my dad.”
She reported it to the 101 non-emergency police line and was told by operators that as far as they were aware there were no police in the area.
She added: “It looked a like a proper police car and he had a uniform on. The car had everything on it like a real police car but it didn’t say South Yorkshire Police it said ‘101’.
“The police have said they think it’s a fake police car.”
Kelly was contacted by a sergeant from Barnsley the following day and was told the force is aware of reports a fake police car and are trying to catch the person posing as an officer.
Sgt Brad Wynne from South Yorkshire Police said: “I appreciate that an incident of this nature is concerning and we are monitoring the situation and investigating what happened.
“It appears this individual may have been posing as a police officer, so I’d remind anyone who is approached by an officer that you can ask them to provide their details and collar number so you can verify their identity.”
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 101 or email enquiries@southyorks.pnn.police.uk quoting incident number 1327 of May 19.
