Neighborhood on Alert for Fake Cop

Residents of Borough Park are watching out for men who have separately attempted to lure young girls to them by waving a police badge. There have been five incidents in the area in the past few weeks, but the descriptions of the man haven't matched up. Police believe one man is responsible for four incidents where the targets have been young girls, two of whom were molested, (three in Borough Park and one in Queens), while the latest incident involved a 17 year old (she walked away and called 911). The yeshivas are especially worried, with the head of all-girl's school Tome Devora telling the Daily News, "We're not used to being exposed to anything vulgar. We're very modest in our appearance and our dress. They're just not used to this." With it easy enough to buy a realistic looking shirt or badge online, it seems like there are incidents like this more and more; in February, a med student was kidnapped from the East Village and assaulted oby a man pretending to be a state policeman.

In four of the incidents, police are looking for an man with olive-colored skin and dark hair in his early twenties (police sketch above), while the fifth incident's suspect is a balding white man in his 30s. And both the NYPD and Borough Park's Shomrim volunteer police officers are stepping up their patrols.