File this one under “ballsy:”

A York College student who was stopped by police after leaving Kennedy Airport was charged with impersonating a federal agent, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Stephan M. Kishore’s masquerade came to an end after a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer stopped his minivan Monday afternoon on an expressway near John F. Kennedy International Airport for changing lanes without signaling, prosecutors said.

The officer said he noticed a large police decal on a rear door of the minivan and red and blue strobe lights on the dashboard. There also were two U.S. Department of Homeland Security parking placards on the dashboard, prosecutors said.

Kishore, who is from Trinidad but lives in the Bronx, then showed the officer a phony Homeland Security ID card and shield, prosecutors said. When asked if he was a police officer, Kishore replied, “Yes, and I’m on duty,” they said.

However, the officer became suspicious when he read on the back of the shield: “CopShop.com, Collectible Badge, Not For Official Use.” CopShop, based in Umatilla, Fla., calls itself the online mall for cops, selling sheriff’s office badges, state trooper patches, collectible pins and law enforcement apparel. [Link]

I think that the main problem here was that Kishore showed weakness when pulled over. If it was me and a real cop pulled me over I’d be like, “No, let me see yo’ I.D. b*tch.” Things then turned much worse for the enterprising young Kishore who was just trying to live out the dream. It is hard becoming a brown cop in a white man’s world after all.

Kishore, 20, was arraigned Tuesday night in Queens Criminal Court on charges of criminal impersonation, forgery and criminal possession of a weapon, a forged instrument and forgery devices, District Attorney Richard Brown said.

“The defendant’s alleged conduct in this era of heightened security was both dangerous and reprehensible because it exploited the public’s trust in the police and placed both his life and those of actual police officers in possible jeopardy,” Brown said in a statement.

Kishore, a student at York College in Queens, was being held Wednesday on $50,000 bail. His next court date is Sept. 5. He could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. [Link]

Are you f*cking kidding me? They are basically saying that impersonating a police officer is suddenly a bigger crime because it is post-9/11 (and because this dude is brown). Sure, fine him and make him do some community service or probation but do we have to throw the book at him? I wonder if it had to do anything with this detail:

“He has always been obsessed with being a cop and had decals all over his room,” she said.

She added that her nephew, who was licensed as a locksmith at age 18, had been taking flying lessons at LaGuardia Airport.

“But he isn’t political. He would never be a threat like a terrorist,” she said. “He’s really more of a big kid. He’s kind of childish.”[Link]

Rather than put this guy in jail I think FBI should recruit him (isn’t there always a secret unit that recruits convicts and neerdowells for some extra-tough mission?). My boy was running a very integrated task force consisting of local and federal law enforcement officials in a seamless manner and without any of the bureaucracy involved:

They also said they found 32 federal police ID cards, including ones for the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and shields for city departments including police and correction. [Link]