A Dunfermline man impersonating a police dog handler told a real officer he was carrying out drug searches in the city’s Primark store.
Nathan Taylor had a spaniel with him when he approached the officer.
He was wearing a hi-vis vest with two airwave radios attached and black cargo trousers.
Procurator fiscal depute Eve McKaig told Dunfermline Sheriff Court: “He informed the PC he was carrying out drug searches within Primark.
“The PC informed him to desist and said it was illegal.
“The accused backtracked and said he was training the dog in the high street and said he was part of a K9 dog training unit and no further action was required at the time”.
Dog team ‘training’
In another instance in the city centre that day, April 1 2021, while wearing a uniform with “dog handler” written on it, Taylor informed two people he had known at school he was training a police dog and asked if they wanted to be “guinea pigs,” to which they agreed.
The fiscal said: “The accused instructed them to rub either a piece of fabric or green substance on themselves and thereafter hide and he would get the dog to find them and both witnesses complied.
“A short time later the accused and the dog found the witnesses and he (Taylor) informed them if they ever went missing, he would be able to find them as the dog knew their scent.
“Both witnesses were of the belief the accused was a police officer and thought nothing else of it.”
Nightclub ‘spiking’
The court heard the same school friends were in the city’s Life nightclub on October 28 2021 and one of them contacted Taylor to make him aware the other’s drink may have been spiked.
The fiscal depute said Taylor entered the nightclub and asked another person there to go outside.
Ms McKaig said: “(The witness) was under the impression he was a police officer and went outside with him.
“The accused thereafter asked about the alleged spiking and also stated ‘it’s not official’ or ‘I am not on duty’.”
It was not said in court who this witness was.
Ms McKaig said in another instance that day, while giving a witness statement to police about a domestic incident, Taylor told an officer he was a firefighter and special police constable and pointed to a hi-vis vest in a vehicle.
The fiscal said the officer had no reason to disbelieve him at the time and that he “came across as genuine”.
‘Bit of stupidity’
First offender Taylor, who is now aged 20 but was 18 at the time he carried out his bizarre charade, previously admitted two charges of impersonating a police constable with an intent to deceive.
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett described the charges as “somewhat unusual”.
He noted a background report made references to issues with mental health.
No clearer explanation was given about his actions.
Mr Flett said: “It’s fair to say he has learned something of a lesson to be arrested and appearing in court”.
Sheriff Shirley McKenna told Taylor: “It sounds to me as if it was a bit of stupidity… and hopefully you have learned your lesson with regards to that as the consequences could be way more serious”.
The sheriff deferred sentence for six months for Taylor to be of good behaviour.
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