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Will938 wrote:Then what is a real police officer in plain clothes (or something anyone could get) when you see them in your house, or in the eyes of the law?

If his identity as an LEO is concealed (as with plain clothes) why in the world should you assume an intruder is a cop?

There are plenty of instances on record where plainclothes or undercover cops were shot . . . not just by civilians, but by other cops!!

Undercover investigations are one thing, but confronting suspects, serving warrants, and attempting arrests when you're NOT readily identifiable as an LEO is not such a good idea, IMHO, especially when police imposters are known to be running around.

(BTW, has anyone found out whether or not those were real LEOs or imposters who set up an illegal "sobriety checkpoint" recently near the new IKEA store in Round Rock, just north of Austin?)

G.C.Montgomery wrote: . . . I've seen HPD serve warrants with not a single marked vehicle in sight. When they've served warrants in my area, the marked units were down the street or even a couple streets over. But the vehicles in front of the offending home were completely unmarked.

This sort of thing is bothersome - if LEOs serving a warrant expect to be regarded as LEOs and treated as LEOs in lawful pursuit of their lawful duties, it is incumbent upon THEM to make THEMSELVES readily identifiable as such.

Drive marked cars, wear regular uniforms, knock on the door and present a valid warrant, and, by golly, the resident of the home BETTER comply peacefully - the T's have been crossed, the I's have been dotted, and we all have a responsibility to obey the law.

On the other hand, unmarked cars, masks, plainclothes, etc. all serve to conceal their identities, both as individuals and as LEOs - you can't tell them apart from invading imposters. IANAL, so I'm not "plugged in" to the legal system, but even I'm aware of at least a couple of cases over the years where juries refused to convict a homeowner who fired upon invading LEOs who were NOT readily identifiable as such. (Of course, if it's o'dark thirty and your first inkling that something is amiss happens when you wake to find half a dozen HK MP5SDs pointed at your head, your options are limited.)

Rex B wrote: OK, so anyone with $5 can buy a shirt that says, in big block letters "POLICE" or "BATF" or any other LE organization.

When someone like that bursts into your home, or bangs on the door and demands entry "Police! Open up!" how do you quickly determine that they are not real LEO that have the wrong house?

A bunch of marked squad cars in the driveway with lights flashing would strongly suggest they were real cops.

Beyond that . . . seeing as nobody in my home has so much as an unpaid parking ticket, the odds of real police attempting to force entry are vanishingly small - it's virtually certain that they'd be imposters. Doubly so if they're not even in uniform.

IMHO police imposters who attempt to force entry to my home pose a real and immediate threat to life, and I'll deal with them accordingly, to the best of my ability.