Police items are easy to find, legal to buy

But using them can bring trouble, though a Pinellas sheriff's official admits the law is vague.

By CATE DOTY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 14, 2001

TAMPA -- The smell of gun metal and dusty canvas fills Nick Potamitis' military surplus store. A bundle of nunchaks, their twin handles shining in the dim light, dangle from a chain suspended above a glass case housing police batons and handcuffs.

A shelf holds official-looking, black "Security" T-shirts.

All of the merchandise, the shirts, batons and handcuffs, is legal to sell to anyone who walks in his Army/Navy Surplus store at 1312 N Tampa St.

"It's not my business why they buy the stuff. They want it, I sell it to them, I don't ask," he said. "We get hunters, we get kids, we get people in the Air Force."

Many pawnshops, gun shops and flea markets will sell clothing or paraphernalia having to do with law enforcement and the military. Some mail order catalogs and Internet companies take orders with few questions asked.

Red flashing lights resembling those used on police cruisers can be picked up at Radio Shack. The Tampa Police Department sells police T-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia.

Selling the stuff is perfectly legal. It's how buyers use it that can get them in trouble. It's a misdemeanor in Florida to wear or display equipment or clothing that makes a person look like a law enforcement officer. It's a felony to impersonate an officer by actions or speech.

Exactly where the legal line is drawn can be hard to define.

"The law is pretty vague," Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Greg Tita said.

The Pinellas Sheriff's Office had a very public problem with the law last month when a jury found Kimberly Sult guilty of violating the law by wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with "SHERIFF" and showing a deputy a false Sheriff's Office ID badge.

After finding her guilty, jurors criticized deputies and prosecutors for making the arrest and spending the time and money on a trial. If the sheriff didn't want the T-shirts on the street, jurors said, they should crack down on the sale of those shirts.

It's not the first time the Pinellas Sheriff's Office has been taken to task for enforcing the law on wearing police attire. In 1998 a man wearing a cap emblazoned with "LAPD" was arrested by deputies. Embarrassed by the public outcry, Sheriff Everett Rice dropped the charges and apologized.

Last month, after the T-shirt trial ended, Rice told his deputies not to arrest anyone for wearing police attire.

Sult had bought the shirt at Americana Uniform Co. on Ulmerton Road when she worked for the Sheriff's Office several years ago as civilian employee. The store claims to sell the shirts only to sheriff's employees with identification, but a St. Petersburg Times reporter purchased one for $16 without any questions.

Some store owners won't stock the paraphernalia because they know what can happen if the wrong person gets hold of it.

"We don't carry that kind of stuff because of the abuse that goes with it," said Kevin Perkins, owner of the Army Navy Store at 1450 Bearss Ave.

Records show eight people in Hillsborough have been arrested in the past year for impersonating an officer, and Pinellas deputies have charged four people this year.

There are plenty of reports of other instances when no arrests are made.

"Periodically, citizens have called and said they've been pulled over by someone who portrayed themselves as a law enforcement officer," Tita said. "But a lot of times, the victims have so little idea of what the person looks like that we can't really pursue the case."

In June, two men in a green Chevrolet with flashing red lights pulled a man over on I-4 in Polk County and demanded $300 in exchange for not issuing him a ticket. The highway patrol has no leads in the case.

In 1995, a St. Petersburg man showed a woman a phony police business card before raping her. He was charged with impersonating a police officer and sexual battery. That same year, a security guard was arrested for attempting to pull over a Pinellas sheriff's deputy on charges of driving drunk.

Impersonators can be pretty convincing, but there are ways to recognize an impostor.

"Any law enforcement officer is required to present official identification as soon as they approach you," Tampa police spokeswoman Katie Hughes said. "Their badge also will carry the proper insignia for their department."

Sult's newest clothing purchase is an official-looking T-shirt proclaiming she is not a deputy.

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