There have been reports in the last few days of fake DWP workers showing up at people's houses in Elysian Heights and Angeleno Heights, asking can they please come into your house because, uh, your pipes may be broken, see? Warnings have been making the rounds on lists and by at least one neighborhood watch captain. Then today I scroll through LAObserved's main page to find a link to a video report of a "possibly" fake DWP worker stealing a bicycle at La Brea and Franklin. In the video, we see the "DWP" guy wearing an orange reflector vest and jeans. The originating post by David Markland of L.A. Metblogs mentions other fake DWP workers commiting crimes in Sherman Oaks (as told by LAist).

So, how many of them are there? They're everywhere. Call the movie DWP Maniac Invasion, or something like that. Lock your doors, and scrutinize ID. Tell the zombies you are going to call the DWP to check. Then close the door and make the call.

Related adventure: I once had fake cable guys (real fake cable guys) pay a visit to my house in Echo Park. They told me they wanted to check the air in my yard for loose cable signals because pirated cable signals could cause plane crashes. Or maybe they were real cable guys. They showed me a clipboard with a dirty "work order" on it. They had an instrument that looked like a metal detector. Either way, I am not making this up.

The good news: So far, no reports of DWP fakes doing comedy.