it's a mad, mad world After glitter bomb, cops arrested former cop who criticized current cops online When are Facebook posts "false personation"? Nate Anderson Mar 20, 2025 5:58 pm | 6 Credit: Alex Schmidt / Getty Images Credit: Alex Schmidt / Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThings have gotten a little wild in the Chicago suburb of Orland Park, Illinois, where local cops accused a former cop of impersonating a current cop on Facebook. The department also noted that a top police official had "a glitter bomb sent to him anonymously at the Police Department" and "was contacted by a suicide prevention hotline as a result of a spoofed call."So, in a bit of a freak-out over this alleged harassment and impersonation, the Orland Park police investigated and eventually sought charges against the former copwho said that all he had done was to create a parodic Facebook page critiquing the current departmental leadership.The whole case was eventually tossed by a judge, who said that the Facebook page wasn't criminal, and now the former cop is suing the current cops for going after him.Got it?That escalated quickly...In a world gone mad, at least one constant remains: People in positions of power are still absolutely losing their minds over petty social media dustups, reacting in ways that just make everything worse.In this case, Orland Park Deputy Police Chief Brian West was upset about some harassment he was experiencing in the wake of a bruising HR complaint about discrimination and promotion in the department. (An investigation by an outside law firm concluded that there had been no misbehavior on West's part.)As part of the general uptick in passion around this event, West was apparently the object of several pranks, including the glitter bomb and the suicide prevention phone call.But there were also the Facebook posts.Someone in the community, posting under the name Brian East (get it?), had begun to criticize both West and his boss. From West's perspective, this all looked like criminal behavior. A police press release said that West had been impersonated by someone who was "misusing personal photographs, engaging in activities that misrepresented Wests identity, and using an offset of the last name of Deputy Chief West."The photos in question hadn't been hacked or anything; they had come from Orland Park's official Facebook page or from the pages of people who knew West.The police claimed that "the fraudulent Facebook pages posted comments on Village of Orland Park social media sites while also soliciting friend requests from Orland Park Police employees and other citizens, portraying the likeness of Deputy Chief of Police Brian West"and said that this was both Disorderly Conduct and False Personation, both misdemeanors.West got permission from his boss to launch a criminal investigation, which soon turned into search warrants that surfaced a name: retired Orland Park sergeant Ken Kovac, who had left the department in 2019 after two decades of service. Kovac was charged, and he surrendered himself at the Orland Park Police Department on April 7, 2024.The police then issued their press release, letting their community know that West had witnessed "demeaning comments in reference to his supervisory position within the department from Kovacs posts on social media"which doesn't sound like any sort of crime. They also wanted to let concerned citizens know that West "epitomizes the principles of public service" and that "Deputy Chief West's apprehensions were treated with the utmost seriousness and underwent a thorough investigation."Okay.Despite the "utmost seriousness" of this Very Serious Investigation, a judge wasn't having any of it. In January 2025, Cook County Judge Mohammad Ahmad threw out both the charges against Kovac.Kovac, of course, was thrilled. His lawyer told a local Patch reporter, "These charges never should have been brought. Ken Kovac made a Facebook account that poked fun at the Deputy Chief of the Orland Park Police Department. The Deputy Chief didnt like it and tried to use the criminal legal system to get even."Orland Park was not backing down, however, blaming prosecutors for the loss. "Despite compelling evidence in the case, the Cook County States Attorneys Office was unable to secure a prosecution, failing in its responsibility to protect Deputy Chief West as a victim of these malicious acts," the village manager told Patch. "The Village of Orland Park is deeply disappointed by this outcome and stands unwavering in its support of former Deputy Chief West."The drama took its most recent, entirely predictable, turn this week when Kovac sued the officials who had arrested him. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that he had been embarrassed about being fingerprinted and processed "at the police department that I was previously employed at by people that I used to work with and for."Orland Park told the paper that it "stands by its actions and those of its employees and remains confident that they were appropriate and fully compliant with the law."Nate AndersonDeputy EditorNate AndersonDeputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 6 Comments