Recently I found myself remembering Kevin Kenniston, though not by name.
It was more along the lines of “That one guy who impersonated a cop.”
In 2011 the Chula Vista man first came to the public’s attention when he was arrested for impersonating a police officer.
At the time the bells and whistles on his black and white Crown Victoria were enough to convince the people he was tailing to pull over.
It wasn’t until he was arrested a second time it came to light Kenniston had a history of violent behavior toward women.
Roughly two years later he’d be sentenced 20-plus years in prison on charges ranging from impersonating a peace officer to kidnapping.
It was the brazen actions of Vance Boelter of Minnesota last weekend that prompted the recollection of Kenniston.
Dressed as a police officer, Boelter allegedly went to the home of a state lawmaker and shot to death her and her husband. That was after he had visited the home of another lawmaker and shot him and his wife.
Fortunately for them they survived.
After a brief manhunt, Boelter was taken into custody.
Though not unheard of throughout history, dressing as a peace officer to commit a crime is not a new phenomenon. But these days it feels as though it’s getting increasingly harder to tell the “good guys” from the “bad guys”.
Consider that since the beginning of the year there have been a growing number of instances of men impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents whose primary intent is to harass immigrant communities.
Factor in the current practice of some ICE and local law enforcement agents to be masked and not have readily visible identifying information such as a name or ID number and you shouldn’t be surprised when you see a decline in the public’s trust of law enforcement.
Local, state and federal legislators must do everything they can to distinguish between the real cops and the imposters because it is getting harder to tell the difference.
