Thursday 12 June 2008

Impersonating an officer

A hypothetical situation: you are on your way to a fancy dress party, going as a police officer. Your costume is very authentic, and you decide to take the bus. The bus driver waves you past the ticket machines because police travel for free, but at the time you assume the machine is broken. Halfway through your journey, you realise your mistake. Do you (a) fess up and pay the fare or (b) just keep your mouth shut and continue on your way. The second question is this: if you are discovered, would you be charged with impersonating a police officer, fare evasion or both?

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Probably fare evasion at minimum.
PPS - I don't know about the other one.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you'd be okay on this one. In most cities, fare waivers *technically* exist with provisions for identification of some sort being produced -- though in practice, as far as my experience goes, the uniform is enough. Because the bus driver a) did not ask for an id, and b) simply "waved you by," rather than saying "go ahead officer," the assumption that the fare machine is broken can fairly be argued-I say enjoy the ride. As for impersonating an officer, I suppose any kid on halloween dressing as one could technically be held accountable too. I think that one might come down to intent. In this scenario, with a party to attend (which could no doubt be attested to if necessary) and no verbal confirmation to the bus driver that you qualified for a fare-waive, I'm thinking a) a case against you would be weak and b) it would also cost way more than bus fare to actually prosecute.

John said...

Fair enough about the weak case, but every now and then I think someone would decide to proceed with a case where the material benefits are far below a return on investment level, just to make a point.