Suddenly, It's Harder To Tell The Good Guys From The Bad

"First of all," Surete du Quebec spokesperson Richard Gagne says,
"they were fake uniforms. ... Based on the description we had from
the victims, these were not police uniforms.

"They were jackets you can buy in any store that sells security
uniforms. Anybody can pick them up and they aren't legally controlled.

"They could have got their badges at Toys 'R Us."

Any other time, it would seem like a straightforward story. On
Tuesday, four men dressed in what appeared to be provincial police
uniforms burst into a house in St. Agapit, about a half-hour's drive
south of Quebec City. They handcuffed the occupants, searched the
place, then left.

The scam was apparently so convincing, it wasn't until the victims
called the local SQ the next day to find out who was going to pay for
the door broken by the "cops" that they figured something didn't add up.

It isn't as if this caper was breathtakingly cunning - anyone who's
ever watched The Godfather knows a police uniform can come in pretty
handy if you're planning to commit a crime.

But in a week where Laval cops were apparently mistaken for home
invaders, home invaders masquerading as cops will get your attention,
because nothing is as straightforward as it used to be.

The funeral that is to take place today for Laval Constable Daniel
Tessier will be the only definitive development we'll see after a
week of questions.

Since gunfire erupted at a Brossard home last Friday, a police
investigation has been launched into how the raid in which Tessier
died was conducted, television cameras have "re-created" the scene of
his shooting, and anybody with a theory has been free to speculate
about just what happened at a house on Rimouski Cres. at 5 a.m.

And once again, the issue of how police can enforce the law without
undue danger to themselves and others has been pushed to the fore.

One issue is that of identification - how important it is that the
suspect on the other side of the door being broken down know the
demolition is being done by cops rather than someone else?

That's why what happened in St. Agapit becomes more than a bizarre
crime story. Even if their uniforms were less than perfect, will
reports that fake cops are wandering around out there make it tougher
for the real articles to their job? And will it make the people
they're paid to serve and protect jumpy every time they see a police uniform?

"What we do know is that the address that was hit was the one the
suspects were looking for," Gagne says, noting equipment that can be
used to cultivate drugs was found at the house. "People living nearby
don't have to worry that they'll come back."

Gagne's probably right.

But what about the next time? How much more likely will it be that a
real police officer's odds of getting shot just increased because
some criminal mastermind decided to play cops when he's actually a robber?

The equation used to be straightforward: You kill a police officer
while he or she is performing his or her duty, you are charged with
first-degree murder.

But as they lower Constable Tessier into the ground today, that math
seems less clear. Because after a week where cops are taken for
robbers and robbers dress as cops, nothing's as straightforward as it
used to be.