The short answer is, you can't tell the difference. You can say all you want about posture, attitude, stance, head-on-a-swivel, haircut, Oakley shades, etc., but there's plenty of non-LEO folks with all the above. Visually, without a badge (uniform or plain clothes), one -cannot- tell if someone is a cop. Even the uniform is a iffy proposition; as has been brought up before, fake and wanna be cops have perpetrated dastardly deeds while wearing surplused, second-hand, or imitation uniforms. Some of the copies are quite good.rotor wrote:Perhaps one of our LEOs can tell us how an off duty officer can be identified as being a LEO and not just a security guard. I am assuming that there is no obligation in this case to show ID to a security guard and it appears doubtful from the explanation that even if the security guard was an LEO that the showing of ID was required since the person was not under arrest.
The long answer is, if he's a cop and he's carrying a pistol, he -ought- to have his badge and/or credentials somewhere about his person. Usually, they're both in a pocket somewhere if he's in plainclothes, or in-uniform, he may just have the creds in his wallet with badge on his shirt. In this case, he probably took the badge off and stuck it in his pocket as a nod to his "off-duty / extra-duty" security guard gig, but if he was carrying under the auspices of "I am cop" instead of "I have CHL," he should have had creds and badge -somewhere- on his person.
Practical answer? If you're in doubt, ask to see his badge and/or credentials.