A Barrington Police officer was driving by Police Cove Park at about 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, July 7 when he spotted a suspicious vehicle parked in the lot.

The vehicle was an older model police cruiser and the officer noticed it was equipped with police lights, a police scanner, and other police equipment, including handcuffs hanging inside the vehicle, that made it look like an official police cruiser.

The officer approached the driver of the vehicle, a 20-year-old Riverside man, and asked him what he was doing at Police Cove Park. The man told the officer he was just looking for a place to hang out.

The man said he worked as a security guard at Providence Place Mall, adding that he never uses the vehicle to pretend to be a police officer.

The Barrington officer asked him if he had any weapons inside the vehicle; the man said he might have some pepper spray. The officer then asked if he could search the vehicle, but the Riverside man would not consent to a search.

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