Omar Maitland, a 23-year-old man charged with impersonating a policeman, was sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Maitland, 23, a security guard from Lightbourne Road, Kingston 5, was arrested on January 2 at the Hilton Kingston hotel. He was later charged and pleaded guilty when he appeared in court.

The facts are that Maitland was behaving in a disruptive manner at the hotel and was spoken to by security personnel and the police. He told the police, however, that he too was a policeman, but was unable to provide identification to support his claim. He reportedly also had an imitation firearm in his possession.

psychiatric help

It was stated that Maitland was in need of psychiatric help, but a report from a psychologist said he was mentally fit.

When he appeared in court yesterday, Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey told Maitland that if he attempted anything similar in the future, he would go to jail. She told him that it was relatively easy to join the police force, but he had ruined his chances because he was now convicted of a crime.

Maitland was sentenced to pay $5,000 or serve six months.