Kamloops man maintains he never impersonated police, despite photos posted to social media

Photo: Tim Petruk

Dean Bradshaw's car had its licence plates seized this week, and Mounties have said it's a "police lookalike."

UPDATED: 8:54 a.m.

A Kamloops mechanic whose vehicle was removed from the road this week and described by Mounties as a “police lookalike” is maintaining he’s never pretended to be a police officer, despite photos posted on social media appearing to show him in a police uniform.

Dean Bradshaw said he felt unfairly targeted by police this week when his heavily modified BMW X5 had its licence plates seized. When asked by Castanet Kamloops, he specifically denied having ever impersonated a police officer.

When the story was published, a number of readers posted comments including selfie-style photos of Bradshaw wearing what appears to be a police-style uniform.

Bradshaw did not deny the photos were his. He said he wears the uniform for air soft shooting. He also said he’s worn it in the past on Halloween.

“People are calling it a corporal uniform even though I’ve never worn it out and about,” he said.

“The only place I’ve ever worn it is to air soft.”

Bradshaw took issue with another comment, which alleged he has been convicted in the past of impersonating a police officer.

“I don’t have a criminal record reflecting anything like that,” he said.

ORIGINAL STORY: 4 a.m.

A Kamloops man whose vehicle was pulled off the road by Mounties claiming it was a “police lookalike” says he’s frustrated and confused by the experience.

Mechanic Dean Bradshaw drives a heavily modified 2005 BMW X5 — a vehicle that got him pulled over at least three times in the week before his licence plates were seized on Wednesday.

The SUV is decked out with multiple aftermarket lights, a solar panel and a number of antennas, among other modifications.

Police said they took issue with the lights and antennas. Bradshaw’s plates were seized on Wednesday after he visited the Kamloops RCMP’s Battle Street detachment because he thought he had to get police to sign off on an inspection report from a previous fix. He said he was confused after being pulled over multiple times.

According to police, Bradshaw was questioned about the equipment. When he said it was work-related, Mounties called in Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement investigators and the BMW was thoroughly inspected before being pulled off the road.

“They threw the book at me, and I’d just had an inspection done not too long ago,” Bradshaw told Castanet Kamloops. “It’s ridiculous.”

Bradshaw said investigators gave him an especially hard time about two specific modifications — a horizontal light bar in his back window and an array of antennas on the roof near the back of his BMW.

The light bar in the back window does resemble one that might be seen on a police cruiser, as do the antennas.

Bradshaw said the light bar is used to alert traffic when he’s pulled over helping to fix a vehicle on the side of the road. It is amber, he said, and does not light up blue or red.

The antennas, he said, are for the radio he uses for work, where he has to stay in touch with tow-truck drivers.

“And people can see it’s a BMW,” he said. “It’s clearly not a police car. It’s not a police vehicle.”

Other modifications include a built-in dash cam beneath the rear-view mirror, LED lights mounted to the hood and a chrome bull bar.

Kamloops Mounties issued a news release on Friday about Bradshaw’s vehicle, describing it as a “police lookalike.”

Bradshaw said he was very surprised to see news stories about his predicament. He messaged Castanet Kamloops on Facebook and asked to tell his side of the story.

“I was upset,” he said.

“I feel attacked. They might not have named me, but the fact they said I had a ‘police lookalike’ vehicle, it’s upsetting.”

Bradshaw said he was pulled over by police on Saturday and Tuesday, and again on Wednesday morning, about an hour before he went to the RCMP detachment to get his notice signed.

When asked, Bradshaw said he's never posed as a police officer or tried to pull anyone over.

"No uniform," he said. "I wear dirty clothes."

Bradshaw said he’s spoken to a lawyer about his situation. He said his main objective now is getting the BMW, his only vehicle, back on the road — which means a lot of work to address the issues noted Wednesday by CVSE.

“With how much money I make and with COVID, it’s going to be a month — maybe more,” he said.

“It sucks.”