Driving back from lunch today, I was stopped at a light when a car pulled up next to mine. He leans over, I shut off the music, and he says,
“One of your rear tail lights is out. I could pull you over, you know.” Then drives off.
I didn’t notice the make/model but it was just a plain old car, completely unmarked except he had a yellow light on top.
Unmarked police cars out here all a) either have a small bue light on them or b) can put a small blue light on, quick, by hand.
So who the hell was this guy? Does he have any right to pull me over? Do I have a legal obligation to pull over for him? He has no markings anywhere on the car, how do I know he’s legit?
I wouldn’t have a problem pulling over for him in town, but less than 10-15 miles away from here you get into heavy country and empty roads. No freakin’ way would I want to be pulled over there by some dude who wasn’t even a cop.
I wanted to shout to him - you’re just some guy with a yellow light on his car!
So what’s the straight dope? Do I have to pull over for any man with a flashing light on his car? Isn’t this stupid when you’re a woman alone? If I did, and was suspicious, what kind of ID do I ask for?
A lot depends on the juristiction, but here in California, nobody with just a yellow light is authorized to pull you over for a traffic violation. The driver could be a peace officer with such enforcement powers, but a yellow light is available to just about anybody, and people aren’t expected to relate a yellow light with the police. A real cop car 'round here has headlights that flash alternately and red and blue flashing lights, even an unmarked one.
There have been many problems with people either pretending to be unmarked police officers or by real ones that people refused to believe. The states vary on this but they generally have to show id and you can drive off if they don’t show it. In some areas, it is also Ok to refuse to stop in a remote area if there is reasonable suspicion about the car. The guidelines usually state that you can drive lawfully and directly to the nearest populated area or police station before you only the supposed officer to make you comply with anything.
Gary, I presume that’s why he didn’t pull me over. The whole thing made me :mad:, though. He could have just said, “Hey, you have a tail light out, you should get that fixed.” But no, he had to do the extra little threat. “I could have pulled you over.”
Sattua, I glanced in the car at him, and he had none of this stuff. He was old, like 60s +, and wearing casual clothes.
Shag, my SO and I have gotten into an argument over this part many times:
I’ve told him this, and also told him how unwise it might be for a woman to stop, in the middle of nowhere, for an unmarked police car. Do you have a cite that I can show him? I’d really appreciate it.
In NJ, the yellow lights denote town/city public works vehicles. He could have been a town planner, someone from the water dept. out checking water pressure, or even a supervisor checking to see if truck#5 emptied all of that block’s garbage cans. And if a cop is undercover in a city vehicle, he’s not there to hand out tickets.
You have to find out the deal for your state. There are bits and pieces around.
Here is something from an article about Pennsylvania:
“The new law contains a provision that permits drivers being followed by an unmarked police car with lights and markings visible to escape punishment for fleeing if they had reason to believe their safety was in danger or to believe that the other car was not being driven by a real police officer.”
Shagnasty is right. You’d have to check with your own state, but basically, you have to go to the nearest police station or brightly lit, populated public place. You do not have to stop in the middle of nowhere…even for someone who looks fairly legit. You can buy all that shit from WeirdoDude.com sites. Anyone can look like a real cop if they want to.
Another reasonable option would probably be to call the police and say you are being tailed by someone in an unmarked car with lights. The dispatcher should be in contact with any officers, and they can verify that the car really is a cop (and you’re already talking to the cops if it’s not).
This was suggested by someone the last time this topic came up wherever I saw it. I also suggest opening the window just enough to communicate if you are even slightly suspicious of the legitimacy of the cop.
If the guy in question is wearing one of those, ‘The person wearing this t-shirt is a policeman. Just lie down and do whatever the nice policeman tells you’ t-shirts, then he’s probably not really a cop.
Only if you have a cellphone! I do have one, now, just got it in March. Before that I guess the other options will do.
Thanks, everyone. I will look up the laws for NY State and see what I can find out.
Antinor, but that’s what the nice man with the Breathalyzer was wearing. :eek: :smack:
No, I’ve definitely seen blue lights! But the only unmarked cop cars I’ve ever seen have been (presumably) State troopers.
There’s a trooper that drives on I-87 here with a sweet little black Corvette or something…he has a blue light. And I’ve seen a few other, plainer cars.
Huh. I thought that in New York, all police use red lights. I thought blue lights were only used by volunteer firefighters on their personal vehicles (having been in a fire department where most of the members had said blue lights, this was the impression I got.)
I could be wrong, though. I found this which says police can have blue lights in the back of their car.
Earlier this year, there were several cases of false impersonation in Las Cruces, so the police (Las Cruces and sheriff and state) announced that any officer driving an unmarked car (which are really kinda obvious, in my opinion) would not pull over anybody. I don’t know if they started making stops in unmarked cars again.
Here in Illinois, a yellow light simply acts as an additional hazard light. Not only do “offical” town vehicles have them but so do utility companies, surveyors, cable installers, tow trucks, heck even the landscape company I work for has a couple box trucks with flashing yellow bar lights on top. It’s not a toy and you’d better have a good reason for driving around with one on (same as if you were just driving around with your hazards for no reason) but a yellow light in no way confers any legitimacy as a law enforcement officer. If anything, I’d wonder why someone from the water department was trying to pull me over.
As an aside, I’ve also noticed that the “community enforcement” vehicles owned by the police station have flashing blue lights but a “real” police car has the red/blue/white strobe effect. I’m not sure if that’s local or statewide though and I assume you should still pull over if a community enforcement vehicle is flashing at you since it’s still a branch of the police.
Anaamika, I thought you lived in Seattle instead of Massachusetts. Since I did the research, I’ll post some links from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer anyway.
Then there’s this link, and this link and this link about men impersonating police officers with the intent of procuring rape victims. I’ve heard of other, more recent incidents on the local news. There was one just three or four months ago. So, your husband is wrong. It really does happen.
I suspect the guy who talked to you was just some jerk on a power trip.
:eek: :smack: