Police welcome sentencing of man for impersonating a police officer

Detectives in Lurgan have welcomed the sentencing of 27 year old Mateusz Prokopiuk at Craigavon Crown Court on Friday, March 11th on charges of Impersonating a police officer.

The charges refer to an incident on October 14, 2020 during which an off-duty police officer reported being pulled over on the M1 towards Portadown at around 1am by a vehicle he believed to be a police car.

Once the officer had stopped his vehicle on the hard shoulder, the driver of the ‘police car’, an unmarked grey Skoda Superb which had been fitted with blue flashing lights, presented an ID card and stated that the off duty officer had been driving too fast.

Recognising that the ID card was not a legitimate PSNI warrant card, the officer alighted from his car and challenged the man, who immediately drove off at speed.

Prokopiuk had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was today sentenced to two months imprisonment, suspended for two years and fined £400.