Last month, I posted about a $1 million Ferrari that was crashed in Malibu, California by Stefan Eriksson, who originally claimed to just be a passenger. The story is much stranger than it even first seemed. According to today's Los Angeles Times, Eriksson flashed a card to deputies identifying himself as a "deputy police commissioner of the San Gabriel Transit Authority Police's anti-terrorism division." It turns out that this particular police agency was formed, legally, by a nonprofit organization that transports disabled people. Apparently, private police departments are easy to establish but "police agencies cannot arrest people unless their personnel meet training and hiring standards set down by state law." So how did Eriksson become deputized? From the Los Angeles Times:
(San Gabriel Transit Authority founder Yosef) Maiwandi said he came in contact with Eriksson from another member of the transit board, Eriksson's civil attorney, Ashley Posner. Neither Posner nor Eriksson would comment.
Maiwandi said Eriksson approached him with an offer. Eriksson volunteered to install free surveillance cameras and a "facial recognition scan" – which could compare a person's image to one depicted in a wanted poster – on a bus to show law enforcement agencies how that could be helpful in catching criminals. He said he had given a similar system to transit agencies in England.
After a background check on Eriksson came back clean, Maiwandi said, he told the businessman he could use the authority's five buses to install the equipment.
In return for his volunteer efforts, Eriksson was made a deputy commissioner of the police department and given business cards…
Although the department's website suggests that it is a fully functioning police agency, Maiwandi acknowledged that it consists of six people, including himself and the chief, who he said is a former Los Angeles police officer who volunteers his services.
Link (Thanks, KVH!)
