The Offence of Impersonating a Police Officer in New South Wales 

A 58-year-old woman was walking on Gadigal land down Arnold Lane, in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills at around 11.45 am on 13 February 2026, when a man, whom she did not know, stopped her in the alleyway and asked her to go with him. The woman attempted to get away from the man by heading to Oxford Street and entering into a shopping mall, but the man was not deterred.

As the man continued on, the woman then entered into a garage on Oxford Street to take refugee, and someone at the premises called the New South Wales police. A colleague of the woman then arrived on the scene and told the man to leave. However, the assailant went on to claim that he was a NSW police officer and that was why he’d been following the woman around.

Officers from the Surry Hills Police Area Command then arrived on the scene to apprehend the man, and they took him to the nearby police station, where he was charged with impersonating a police officer, along with one count of having stalked the woman from the laneway and a further charge of being in possession of a prescribed restricted substance.

The NSW police refused to release the man on bail that afternoon, so he was then held in the Surry Hills lockup overnight and was to appear before the NSW Bail Court the following day, in order to permit a NSW magistrate to reconsider whether he was warranted conditional release before appearing in court to face the charges laid against him.

Impersonating a police officer

The Surry Hills man who approached the woman in the back alley last Friday has been charged with one count of impersonating a police officer, contrary to subsection 546D(1) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). This basic form of the offence carries up to 2 years imprisonment. The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a civilian claimed to be a police officer when they weren’t.

The basic form of the crime is a summary offence, which means a defendant charged in respect of it then appears in the NSW Local Court to be assessed as to their guilt. Summary offences are less serious crimes, which are resolved at a fast pace in the lower court, and such offences usually carry maximum penalties of no more than 2 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $5,500.

Subsection 546D(2) of the Crimes Act contains the aggravated form of the offence of impersonating a police officer. This crime carries up to 7 years. In terms of this more serious indictable offence, the prosecution has to prove that the defendant was claiming to be a police officer when they weren’t, and further, they were attempting to “exercise a power or function” of a police officer.

This section of the Act also clarifies that “‘impersonation’ does not include conduct engaged in solely for satirical purposes”.

Additional offence

A further offence of impersonating an officer is contained in section 173(2) of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) which carries a maximum penalty of 100 penalty units, which equates to a maximum fine of $11,000 given that one New South Wales penalty unit equals $110 at the time of writing.

To establish the offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person impersonated an authorised officer, which includes a police officer.

Defences against a charge of impersonating a police officer

Besides the claim that the defendant was only impersonating a police officer for satirical purposes, a number of other defences are available to a person charged under this section.

If it suits the circumstances of his arrest, the man detained over impersonating a police officer last week, could put to the court the defence of mental impairment or cognitive impairment. This statutory defence is contained under section 28 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW).

In this case, the defence of mental or cognitive impairment would involve the man claiming he was not criminally responsible for his illegal act as he was suffering mental impairment or cognitive impairment or both, and therefore, he didn’t know that what he was doing was wrong.

The other common defence open to be raised against a charge of impersonating a police officer is that of duress. This defence involves an accused putting to the court that their crime was carried out in order to prevent a much greater threat of harm against them or their loved-one. The threat must be substantial enough to warrant the criminal behaviour perpetrated to avoid it.

Other offences on the charge sheet

The fake cop has further been charged with one count of stalking or intimidation with intent to cause fear of physical harm, contrary to section 13 of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW). This crime carries up to 5 years prison time. The prosecution must prove the defendant stalked or intimidated a person with the intention of causing them to fear mental or physical harm.

The final count comprises of possess prescribed restricted substance, contrary to section 16 of the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966 (NSW). A prescribed substance is a drug that a doctor must provide written authorisation for a patient to obtain. Schedule 4 of the Therapeutic Goods (Poisons Standard—February 2026) Instrument 2026 lists the prescription only medicines captured by it.

To prove this crime, the prosecution must show that the defendant was in possession of a prescribed restricted substance, that they were aware of this, and that they weren’t officially authorised to be in possession of the medicine.

If a civilian is found in illegitimate possession of an anabolic or an androgenic steroidal agent, they face up to 2 years imprisonment and/or a $2,200 fine. However, if this substance is not an anabolic or an androgenic steroidal agent, the prison time that applies is up to 6 months and the fine involved stays the same.

Impersonating a federal law enforcement officer

A quick Google search in respect of impersonating a police officer reveals that cases involving civilians attempting to convince others that they work for the NSW Police Force, or for the Australia federal police for that matter, happen quite often in the Greater Sydney region.

Sydney property developer Jaime Charles Farrelly was arrested last October, following a fake police identification card that named him as an AFP officer, along with a badge, were handed into Bondi police station. After the card was provided, police then raided the man’s Double Bay home to locate multiple counterfeit badges, replica firearms, along with some steroids and an amount of cocaine.

Amongst a number of criminal offences laid against Farrelly’s name was one count of impersonating a Commonwealth official, contrary to section 148.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

A Commonwealth officer can involve any of the following: a member of the Australian public service, an individual employed under the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth), a member of the Australian Defence Force, an officer or employee of a Commonwealth authority, a contract service provider for the Commonwealth, someone hired under a Commonwealth contract or an AFP employee.

The basic offence involving impersonating a federal police officer carries 2 years imprisonment, however the crime is aggravated when a person commits this ruse to gain financially, or to cause a loss or to influence the exercise of “a public duty or function”, and in these cases, an accused then faces up to 5 years inside.