# Ford Crown Vics with spotlight & civilian plates **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161 "2013-05-01T00:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161/41 "2015-01-14T22:51:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **lieu** : > > It’s a bigger potential market if you include illegal poachers. Legitimate hunters, too. It’s illegal to “spot” deer (blind them with a bright light so they stand still) to shoot them, but it’s legal to go out spotting a couple of nights before the season starts to see where the most deer are. At least, in Pennsylvania where most of my hunting relatives live. All of them use hand-held spots, but I’m sure they’d use a car-mounted one too, if they had it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161/42 "2015-01-14T23:32:24Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Basically this. Because of the potential for police impersonation. Impersonating the police is a crime in the U.K.; is that not the case in America? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161/43 "2015-01-15T00:29:05Z")
Owner of a dark blue 1990\* Crown Vic here. Ex-grandma car with landau roof with a body style Ford hasn’t sold for decades, but it still scares some people with guilty consciences when I’m just driving normally and making no effort to impersonate a cop. It’s fun! - - Conversation two hours ago: Mechanic - It looks like you need a tuneup. Me - A…tune…up? I haven’t heard those words together for 25 years. Mechanic - Well, you drive a 25 year old car. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161/44 "2015-01-15T01:11:49Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Impersonating the police is a crime in the U.K.; is that not the case in America? I think they’d say they’re not impersonating. They’re…hobbyists? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161/45 "2015-01-15T01:21:46Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Why is that? I always found them to be a solid if unremarkable largish sedan. [Link 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=150300) [Link 2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=624527) TLDR reason: It looks like a cop car and so one of three things happen. 1) It actually is a cop, 2) It’s a kid who enjoys making like a cop to push people out of the way, or 3) It’s Sister Mary Bluehair walking her car and holding up traffic because nobody will pass her. Really TLDR reason: Crown Vics create traffic problems simply by existing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ford-crown-vics-with-spotlight-civilian-plates/657161.md?page=2)