Accused police impersonator turns out to be federal officer

Aside from the blue light mounted in his unmarked SUV and the weapon on his hip, a man recorded during a traffic stop didn't look like a police officer at all.

But looks can be deceiving, Georgia authorities learned Tuesday morning.

Hours after officials with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office  asked the public to help identify a "suspected police impersonator," they issued a retraction and said that the man was, in fact, an officer with a federal agency.

“We have positively identified him as a certified law enforcement officer in an off-duty capacity at the time of this incident,” sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Marianne Kelley said in a statement.

The name and agency of the officer were not released.

The mix-up began about 4 p.m. Monday, when the officer pulled over a citizen in Ball Ground, Georgia.

“The citizen who was stopped felt concerned over what he described as an irregular contact,” the sheriff’s office said in the statement.

The officer never identified himself or the agency he represented, according to the sheriff’s office. He even backed off once he realized the citizen was recording the encounter.

“He was wearing his agency-issued badge,” Kelley said, “but did not have on any other identifying credentials or documentation.”

Law enforcement officers generally are “in uniform or will identify themselves to you and advise you of the agency where they work,” she said.

The sheriff’s office notified the officer’s immediate supervisor of the traffic stop.

"I don't know what their protocol is," Kelley said. "It would not be appropriate for one of our own officers to pull someone over and then not identify what agency they work for."

Cox Media Group