Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

March 2, 2012

 Warren Taylor, a 32-year-old New York City resident employed as a gas mechanic by Con Edison, was arrested and charged with sexual assault and criminal impersonation of a police officer. Posing as a cop, Taylor allegedly compelled prostitutes to provide sexual favors for him. He was inspired by media accounts of an investigation into an NYPD officer suspected of sidelining as a pimp.

At roughly the same time, an internal affairs inquiry in Pinellas County, Florida revealed that Detective Paul Giovannoni disguised himself in a uniform from the Progress Energy utility in order to gain access ? without a search warrant -- to a floral business called Simply Hydroponics, which was wrongly suspected of growing marijuana. 

Giovannoni dismissed his actions as a ?ruse.? In fact, they constituted Criminal trespass under section 810.09(2)(b) of the Florida State Code ? a first degree misdemeanor ? and an act of ?private business invasion by false personation,? defined by section 817.025 as a second degree felony punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.

If it is a crime for a utility worker to pose as a police officer, why isn?t it a crime for a cop to pretend to be a utility worker?

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.