It’s a scene that has played out hundreds of times in movies and real life: Someone pretending to be a police officer gains the trust of a stranger and then commits terrible crimes. That was ...

It’s a worthwhile cause, to be sure — but it also highlights just how well-equipped American police departments are, if they have enough spare gear to support a geopolitical crisis.

Researchers told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson that if police gear was harder to get, there would be fewer impersonators. Most police gear, ...