Facebook gives away a whole lot of criminals, but none more bizarre than this fake cop, who really should have known better.

Paul Hodgson was employed under contract by the Manx police as a crime analyst when he posed as a chief inspector. He didn’t use his fake position for power or authority; instead he borrowed a marked car from the Ramsey police station, drove to a pub and posed with a group of girls in full uniform.

Police discovered the picture of Hodgson after it was posted on Facebook. Ironically part of Hodgson’s job was to improve the intelligence gathering and analysis of the police station by using Facebook and other social networks. Hodgson was questioned for allegations of impersonating a police officer and taking a police vehicle without consent. The Attorney General’s Chambers decided not to prosecute Hodgson but he was suspended from his position and his contact has since been terminated.

Perhaps the most alarming part of this case is that Hodgson wasn’t a random civilian who thought it would be cool to dress up as a chief inspector; he’s a retired detective from the U.K. and respected expert in crime profiling which is why the Isle of Man Constabulary contracted him in the first place. Hodgson also was an associate lecturer with A1 Intelligence Training which gives analysis training to law enforcement, government, military and commercial organizations. He was a member of the National DNA Database Implementation Team in 1994 and the U.K. Police representative for the Interpol DNA Expert Group. In 2002 he was appointed as a full-time senior geographic profiler with the Operational Support Section at the National Centre for Policing Excellence. Needless to say, Hodgson should have known better.

Police say that Hodgson didn’t endanger public safety and that his incident will have no bearing on previous or on-going police investigations. A spokesperson for the Isle of Man Police confirmed that Hodgson is no longer working for the department and that they are reviewing their security shortcomings. He said:

Steps were also taken to review internal police processes. The investigation led to his being cautioned by HM Attorney General for two criminal offences: taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent and impersonating a police officer. The contractor voluntarily ended his contract before the department did so. ‘This is a sad matter, where a man with considerable professional skills and a solid professional reputation, made a series of grave errors of judgment.

Facebook gives away many criminals, but most of them have more serious offenses. Sure, stealing a police car is certainly serious – and strange if he already worked with the department – but it’s nothing like beating up your friend with a baseball bat and bragging about it or posing with stolen (not borrowed) property.