THE MAN behind a private 'cops for hire' scheme in Southampton has appeared in Court after police officers were duped into thinking he was one of them.
Prosecutors claim that David MacLean, 26, was mistaken for a police officer at various crime scenes and even given instructions to take witness statements by one officer.
However, officers later realised that he was a civilian working as a security guard and on another occasion called himself an off duty dog handler.
Southampton Magistrates Court heard that police chiefs were so concerned about his Hampshire Crime Prevention Schemes, a security firm, that they put it on an intelligence database as an organisation that could be a risk to the police.
MacLean of Holcroft Road, Thornhill denies one charge of impersonating a police officer and another count of driving a vehicle purporting to be police dogs van calculated to falsely suggest he was an police officer.
He also denies a further two charges of dressing in dark clothes, body armour and other paraphernalia that so closely resembled a police uniform it was calculated to deceive members of the public.
Earlier this year MacLean launched a private security patrol service in Shirley called Atraks where he invited residents to pay 50p a day for extra protection from criminals and anti-social behaviour.
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