Would-be criminals might want to at least check the vehicles parked in a driveway before attempting to enter a house for nefarious purposes.

Such was the lesson learned by two men Wednesday evening when they paid a visit to the home of the Columbia County sheriff, trying to pose as police officers in an attempt to get inside.

Kim Richards, 24, daughter of Sheriff Dennis Richards, was at the Portage home near downtown she shares with her parents at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when the doorbell rang.

Richards, alone with her 8-month-old daughter - her parents were gone at the time - answered, to find two men she'd never seen before at the door. Both were white and in their 30s, wearing black hats, identical flannel short-sleeve button shirts and cargo shorts.

"They asked if I was the only one at home," Richards said.

She told them no.

"They asked if they could come in and search the house," Richards said.

When she asked them why, they told her they believed there was someone in the house who shouldn't be there.

When Richards asked them who they were with, they told her they were with the city of Portage.

Richards, however, didn't buy it.

"I've lived here all my life. I've never seen them a day in my life," she said. "I know every cop around here."

She told them, "My dad's the sheriff, and I've never seen you before."

Then she closed the door and called her dad, who told her to contact the police.

The men, of course, were nowhere to be seen when police arrived.

"I was a little freaked out," Richards said. "It made me think - what if I had let them in?"

She can laugh about it now, thankfully.

"It was quite ironic," she said. "Out of all places, they chose the sheriff's house."

Richards said she thought the men had visited all the houses on their block, trying to find someone at home.

"Just the luck of the draw, (I was) the only one who happened to be home," she said.

Perhaps they weren't the brightest men either: Richards said her father's squad car was parked in the driveway at the back of the house, visible to anyone walking up to the house.

"Obviously they had no idea who lives here," Richards said.

Criminals - successful or not - who pose as police officers especially frustrate police, according to Assistant Chief Kevin O'Neill of the Portage Police Department.

"They are attempting to use our identities to do wrong," O'Neill said.

Such men pose a danger to the public, he said.

O'Neill said to not let anyone inside your home who identifies themselves as an officer, and are not wearing a uniform and driving a squad car, unless they show proof of identity.

All law enforcement officials carry a photo ID and a shield or star, O'Neill said, and can produce the identification when requested.

"True police badges are solid quality insignia bearing the name of the city or county in which the officers serve," O'Neill said.

"Real police will certainly not mind if the people want to call the police to verify authenticity," O'Neill said. "Pretenders will likely run at the suggestion."