RCMP investigate alleged fake police van on P.E.I.

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A terrifying (and infuriating) event played out on the roads of Prince Edward Island over the weekend, when a van was allegedly used to impersonate a police vehicle.

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While such activity is always moronic, it is doubly so after the events of 2020 in which an imposter in the neighbouring province of Nova Scotia used a fake RCMP cruiser as part of his cover during a 13-hour killing spree.

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In this instance, a man in his mid-20s told the CBC that he and a passenger were travelling the area’s Trans-Canada Highway when a dark van with flashing red and blue lights pulled out of a side road and began following them. Seeing no police markings on the vehicle, the man listened to his gut and called 911 while continuing at the speed limit instead of pulling over to the roadside.

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The van stopped and turned around “after about five minutes,” said the driver.

Local authorities said the driver did the right thing by calling 911, since their records showed they had no vehicles in that area during the incident in question. Cops are taking the whole thing seriously. “It puts undue pressure on P.E.I. drivers, and if they are caught doing it, there will be severe penalties for it,” a local Sergeant on the island’s force told the CBC in an interview.

Penalties for impersonating a police officer are understandably severe, with the whole of Atlantic Canada on edge about such activity after last year’s events.