Faking 911

Everyone knows -- or should know -- that you don't let someone in your house when they are wearing plainclothes and claiming to be a police officer. Now, apparently a uniform needs to be suspect as well.

The woman at first did not recognize the uniformed San Antonio police officer who rang her doorbell at 8:30 a.m., rousing her from bed, she says.

The cop was responding to a 911 hang-up call, he told her. Was everything OK?

She told him she had not called 911. Nor had her husband, as the officer suggested — the woman was not married.

The cop's face suddenly brightened: He said he had met her just the day before. He had purchased from her hundreds of dollars in shaving supplies at The Art of Shaving, an upscale boutique at The Shops at La Cantera. She had given him her card.

The woman agreed this was a coincidence. But two days later, she began to doubt such a cosmic wrinkle and decided to contact the Police Department's internal affairs department.

...

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said police told her [Officer Gabriel] Villarreal had used a city computer to track her down. He then staged an emergency response to her address, according to the woman and a police source who requested anonymity.

...

“I think he asked to come in,” she said. “He came into my house. I let him in to see there was no emergency.”

The officer then pointed out that the woman had sold him shaving supplies the previous day.

“I said, ‘What a coincidence! You're here!'” she said. “I didn't get it.”

Small talk ensued.

“He wouldn't leave, and he wouldn't leave,” she said. “It kind of felt weird in my home.”

The officer left after about 20 minutes. A friend later urged her to report the incident.

Not long after she called the Police Department, someone returned to the shop.

It was the officer's wife, the woman said — there to return the shaving supplies.

(from the Express-News)

Sounds like Chief McManus has some more housework to do.