"They believed he truly was an agent:" How to spot bogus badges
WAUKESHA COUNTY -- He wore the uniform and claimed to be police, but it turned out, he was not law enforcement. The incident started with an unusual encounter for police at an apartment complex in Sussex.
"We had squads that were dispatched to an odor of marijuana complaint," explained Patrick Esser, Waukesha County Sheriff's Department captain. "They basically had someone walk up to them and identify himself as Homeland Security."
The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department says Gavin Snake had a badge, a Homeland Security hat and he claimed to be on a drug task force. But an investigation revealed he was not.
Gavin Snake
"He was not a Homeland Security officer and had actually purchased numerous items — badges, uniform items to try and identify himself as a law enforcement officer," Esser said.
Snake's friends allegedly told deputies that he'd been flashing his badge for months.
"A lot of the witnesses seemed pretty sold on the fact that they believed he truly was an agent," Esser recalled.
FOX6's Contact 6 visited Snake's house to get his side of the story, but a woman answered the door and said he wasn't there.
Contact 6's Jenna Sachs knocking on the door of Gavin Snake's house.
"No comment. No thank you," the woman told Contact 6.
Turns out, it's not hard to get the items Snake allegedly used. Contact 6 found the same metal badge and a few others online. All the badges had a good weight and the size wasn't far off.
But Esser said there's still tell-tale signs the badges aren't real.
"Most badges in Wisconsin, as far as I know, are going to have some kind of seal that ties it to Wisconsin," Esser said.
Esser examined one of the badges Contact 6 purchased. He said it had no jurisdiction, agency or rank on it. Those are signs that it's a fake.
Captain Patrick Esser of the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department
"Some things that might start causing concern are when they start seeing very generic wording on the badge itself. If it just says, 'security officer,'" Esser gave as an example.
Contact 6 found it's not difficult to get other pieces of a uniform online as well.
"But to put a badge that matches the uniform, that matches patches, that matches the marked police unit, is going to be a lot more difficult," Esser said.
Typically, the people buying these items online are just using them for costumes or they're collecting them for displays.
But the consequences of impersonation are high.
In Wisconsin, impersonating an officer is a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $10,000 and up to nine months in prison.
"The public trust between law enforcement and citizens is the highest concern we have and when we have these impersonators out there, they undermine that trust," Esser said.
If you're questioning an encounter with a law enforcement officer, here's what you should do: