Man claims to be Moses Lake police officer

MOSES LAKE - An unidentified male called a Moses Lake man asking for information while claiming to be a Moses Lake police officer Sunday morning.

Capt. Dave Ruffin said there were no other similar reports recently but said sometimes citizens report getting phone calls from people impersonating police.

The reporting party advised the male claiming to be a detective would not confirm his name and asked if he would be home from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. that night, according to the police report. The reporting party stated he would be home during those hours and the subject disconnected the phone call.

The reporting party dialed *69 to determine where the suspect was calling from and it appeared the phone number was from Portland, Ore.

Police dialed the phone number to attempt to reach the suspect but no one answered.

Ruffin said if someone is contacted by a person claiming to be a police officer and feels suspicious about it, they can ask to end the conversation and call them back at the police department to speak to them.

A citizen can contact the police department's business phone number at 509-766-9230 and ask if that officer is on duty and to be put in touch with them, he said.

A police officer will always identify himself on the phone, Ruffin said.