Johnny Wishbone?

gregh — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:42:56 -0500

He wasn't a psychic from the island of St. Croix, but he must have seemed to have almost psychic powers.

Police Impersonator's Arrest Stuns Missouri Town - NYTimes.com:

They said the agent, a man some had come to know as "Sergeant Bill," boasted that he did not need search warrants to enter their homes because he worked for the federal government.

But after a reporter for the local weekly newspaper made a few calls about that claim, Gerald’s antidrug campaign abruptly fell apart after less than five months. Sergeant Bill, it turned out, was no federal agent, but Bill A. Jakob, an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop from 23 miles down the road.
...
Mr. Jakob even asked Chief McCrary to call what he said was his supervisor's telephone number to confirm Gerald's need for his help, the mayor said.

When the call was placed, a woman -- whose identity is unknown -- answered with the words "multijurisdictional task force," and said that the city's request for federal services was under review, the mayor said. Mr. Schulte said he now suspects that Mr. Jakob adapted the nonexistent task force name from the "Beverly Hills Cop" movies starring Eddie Murphy.

It would be funny if wasn't so scary. What a massive social engineering attack.

Wishful thinking

gregh — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:29:05 -0600

It is hard to see much that microscopy, x-rays, database technology, microbiology, infrared imaging, MRI, or numerous other technologies have contributed to criminal enterprises; they have, however, given the police a host of techniques for tracking, identifying, and monitoring both people and physical objects. On balance, the impact of technology is so weighted on the side of law enforcement as to make it remarkable that crime has survived at all.

Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau, Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption, Updated and Expanded Edition, page 137.

Otherwise Occupied - lawenforcement

Johnny Wishbone?

Wishful thinking