STOP, YOU'RE NOT UNDER ARREST

A man dressed in a New Westminster police uniform has apparently been
ripping off drug dealers on Twelfth Street - and no, he wasn't a
police officer.

New Westminster police have tracked down a police uniform that's been
missing since May 16 when some clothes were stolen from the Columbia
Street dry cleaning shop that takes care of police uniforms.

The thief apparently entered through a back door that was kept open
for ventilation.

Among the items taken was a shirt and pair of pants from a police
uniform, Staff Sgt. Casey Dehaas noted, adding the shop has since been
asked to keep the back door closed.

This past week, on June 11, police acted on a tip and got a search
warrant for an apartment on 13th Street.

Sure enough, Dehaas said, hanging in the closet was the shirt and
pants in question. Two people in the apartment were arrested for
possession of stolen property.

In the intervening time, at least one of them has been putting on the
uniform and going up and down Twelfth Street approaching possible drug
dealers and confiscating their money and drugs.

"The drug dealers are probably happy they weren't being charged,"
Dehaas said.

"We don't know how many times that may have happened."

Dehaas said police would be interested in getting information to
support charges of impersonating a police officer.

However, that won't happen unless any of the people who were ripped
off are willing to talk to police.

"Chances are against people coming forward," Dehaas
admitted.

But he said that, if anybody is willing to talk to police, they're not
interested in pursuing charges against any of the victims of the
phoney police officer.

In the meantime, he's just glad that the clothes have been restored to
their rightful owner.

"We're just fortunate we got the uniform back."

How not to commit a crime ...

Memo to purse-snatchers: You might want to make sure your victim
doesn't see where you live.

Oh, and it helps if she's not your neighbour.

New Westminster police were called out Wednesday evening after a
woman's purse was snatched outside the New Westminster Public Library,
Staff Sgt. Casey Dehaas reported.

A man grabbed the purse and ran off to an apartment building on Ash
Street, behind the library.

The victim was able to spot the man going into the building and, as it
happened, she lived there too.

A police officer made some inquiries and tracked down the suite where
the man lived. The purse was found inside the suite and the man had
money in his possession - exactly the same amount of money that was
reported missing from the purse.

The 50-year-old man was arrested, and the woman got her purse back
intact.

"We were able to return the purse and all the belongings to the
victim," Dehaas said.