Scotts Valley police arrest impersonator

A Scotts Valley man was arrested last week for impersonating a police officer.
For three months, police watched 39-year-old Akira Kelcasy Kelly transform a white retired police car into a bona fide-looking undercover cop car.
Kelly bought the car, which was once used by police in California, online and then souped it up with a radar detector, siren, loudspeaker, red and blue lights and a scanner.
“One of our officers noticed it,” said Scotts Valley police Sgt. Mike Dean. “Over the progression of time, it started to look more and more like a police car.”
Dean said an officer noticed a California Highway Patrol badge in the car that could have been stolen, which led police to obtain a search warrant for Kelly’s home.
Kelly was arrested and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on Friday, Sept. 3, on suspicion of impersonating a police officer, exhibiting a fraudulent law enforcement badge, possessing stolen property, displaying a fraudulent license plate and providing false information to a police officer.
The car was parked in front of Kelly’s home on the 5500 block of Scotts Valley Drive. Inside the house, police found black coveralls with law enforcement patches, a police jacket and a badge.
Officers also found a police duty belt that had a baton, pepper spray, radio, handcuffs and fake firearm.
Kelly, who drove the car to and from work, admitted that he turned on the lights to slow traffic and get other vehicles out of his way, Dean said.
Dean said Kelly might have made car stops, but that has not been confirmed.
“We’re asking if anybody has information or believes they were pulled over to give us a call,” Dean said.
Police advise motorists, especially women, to pull over only in well-lit places and to ask for police identification, Dean said. Drivers can also ask for a marked patrol car to respond if they suspect a plainclothes officer isn’t legitimate.
“A worst-case scenario of someone posing as an officer is that females could be pulled over, taken into custody and assaulted,” Dean said.
Police ask anyone who might have been stopped or contacted by Kelly or who saw him in the car in public to call 440-5670.