Some people forget their keys when they leave the house.
Others forget to turn off the coffee pot.
But one Florida cop forgot he wasn’t a cop anymore – and his excuse has everyone wondering what planet he’s been living on.
Paul Fluty thought he could flash his old badge and pretend nothing had changed after getting fired from the Miami-Dade Police Department earlier this year.
The 39-year-old former officer got caught red-handed in Deltona when he rolled up to someone’s driveway claiming to be hunting for a missing girl as part of some federal task force operation.
Volusia County deputies weren’t born yesterday, and when they started asking questions, Fluty’s whole act fell apart faster than a house of cards in a hurricane.
And Fluty’s defense? He did it all "by mistake" and "out of habit."
The badge came out "by accident"
Here’s what went down on that Monday afternoon in Deltona that landed Fluty behind bars.
Deputies got called about some guy parked in a residential driveway asking questions about a little girl. When they arrived, they found Fluty sitting in an SUV spinning quite the tale.
"We’re from Miami-Dade, but we’re on the Marshal task force," Fluty told the responding deputy, according to body camera footage released by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.¹
https://twitter.com/VolusiaSheriff/status/1970949791753425398
The former cop claimed he was working with the U.S. Marshals to track down a missing girl whose phone had allegedly pinged in that area.
He even had an explanation ready for why he wasn’t driving a marked police car – the girl "runs from the cops," he said.
When the deputy asked for identification, Fluty whipped out his badge like he was still carrying the authority of the law.
Then he pulled up a photo on his phone showing what appeared to be his old credentials.
But there was one tiny problem with this whole operation.
Fluty had been fired from the Miami-Dade Police Department earlier this year and wasn’t working for any federal task force.
The deputies figured this out pretty quickly, and by that evening, they had a warrant for his arrest.
"Google my name" wasn’t the defense he thought it was
Body camera footage captured the moment reality came crashing down on Fluty’s little charade.
"What did I do?" Fluty asked as deputies slapped the handcuffs on him.²
When they told him he was being arrested for impersonating a police officer, his response was priceless: "Google my name. I got officer of the year and everything."³
Now, it’s true that Fluty had some legitimate law enforcement credentials in his past.
Back in 2020, he was named officer of the year by the Miami-Dade Police Department after getting shot while trying to apprehend a suspect wanted for domestic battery.⁴
But here’s the thing – past achievements don’t give you a free pass to impersonate law enforcement after you’ve been fired.
That’s like arguing you should still get employee discounts at a store because you once won "Employee of the Month" before they let you go.
After his arrest, Fluty offered up what might be the weakest legal defense in Florida history.
He told deputies he showed his old badge and credentials "out of habit" and "by mistake," claiming he "accidentally" told them he was still a police officer.⁵
Out of habit? Really?
What was Fluty really up to?
The plot thickened when detectives dug deeper into what Fluty was actually doing in that Deltona neighborhood.
Turns out, the evidence suggests he’s working as a private investigator now and may have been in the area conducting an insurance investigation.⁶
That would make a lot more sense than this elaborate federal task force story he was peddling.
But here’s where Fluty made his critical error – instead of being upfront about his current work as a private investigator, he decided to dust off his old police credentials and pretend he still had the authority to flash a badge.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office investigation revealed that Fluty is no longer a police officer and is not a member of any federal task force.
That pretty much sealed his fate.
Fluty got booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on one count of impersonating a police officer. He posted a $2,000 bond the next afternoon and walked free – for now.
Look, here’s what should worry every law-abiding citizen
This whole mess exposes something that should make everyone’s blood boil.
How easy is it for someone to flash an old badge and convince people they’re still law enforcement?
Fluty almost pulled this off until deputies did their due diligence and actually checked his story.
What if they hadn’t?
What if some family had trusted this guy based on his convincing act and let him into their home or around their children?
The scary truth is that Fluty knew exactly what buttons to push. He had the lingo down, knew how to present credentials, and crafted a story that sounded just plausible enough to work.
The only thing that stopped him was professional police work by the Volusia County deputies who bothered to verify his claims.
For parents and homeowners, this should be a wake-up call. Always ask for current, official identification.
Always verify through official channels. And never be afraid to call 911 to confirm that someone claiming to be law enforcement is actually who they say they are.
The "Google my name" defense might work in Fluty’s mind, but in the real world, credentials expire when your employment does.
Past heroism doesn’t grant permanent authority – and thank God for that, because otherwise every fired cop in America could just keep showing up to "investigate" whatever they wanted.
Fluty learned that lesson the hard way, and hopefully his $2,000 bond payment drove the point home.
¹ Sierra Rains, "’Google my name’: Fired Florida officer accused of using old badge to impersonate police," WFLA, September 25, 2025.
² – ⁶ Ibid.
