Working at a 24/7 bodega in the heart of Brooklyn, Tajuken Deli employees are prepared for almost anything – except having guns pointed at their heads by cops.
That’s what seemed to be happening one early April morning last year, when four armed men dressed in police uniforms flashed their badges, yelling “NYPD” as they stormed the neighborhood shop. Surveillance video shows one worker being quickly knocked to the ground and zip-tied into submission before being dragged to the back of the store. Another worker and customer were also subdued as the masked thieves dressed as cops made off with cash and a bag of lottery ticket receipts before fleeing in a dark van.
“You don’t know who to trust nowadays,” local resident Danny Taylor told a TV reporter.
The Bed-Stuy deli heist is part of an unusual and little-known crime wave in New York City. In 2025, 1,474 suspects were arrested for impersonating a cop or other public servant, a 50% increase from the prior year, according to New York Police Department data. Brooklyn has seen the most officer impersonation crimes in a trend that stretches across the five boroughs.
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