Hypothetical situation: you’re on the highway. Maybe you’re speeding, maybe your lights are off–who knows. An unmarked police car flashes its lights and follows you. Obviously if this were a marked car, you would pull over. But are you obligated to pull over for unmarked cars? I’ve heard stories about people being killed, raped, mildly insulted, etc., after being pulled over by criminals pretending to be undercover cops. 1) What should one do in this situation, and 2) Would you get in trouble for not pulling over?
Evasive Driving says
Whether true or not that story at least led me to the information of how to call the highway patrol in Mississippi. I’m glad to see that there is such a number in Mississippi. States that just leave it to calling 911 seem to me to be behind in this matter.
Judges here HATE:mad: unmarked squads. And it’s impossible to get a conviction for fleeing if the officer had an unmarked. My department still uses them for traffic stops, but policy forbids using them in persuits or road blocks. We’re not to exceed the speed limit in them either, even with the lights & siren on.
Just a side note, (this is really MPSIMS) a few months ago I saw the best unmarked squads ever. It was in south eastern Wisconsin (Walworth County area). One was a Dodge pick-up truck, the other was a Dodge mini-van. The mini-van even had a child seat in the back and a Green Bay Packers license plate!
But both, when observed up close, were complete squad packages. Lights in the grill, wig-wags, radar, radio, etc… You’d fly right by these on the freeway and never suspect they were police cars!:eek: I was impressed!
Weird question, since just two weeks ago I was pulled over because my car fit the description of a car used to rob a store (‘white sedan’). The Cal Highway Patrol has recently been phasing in almost-unmarked white firebirds meant to replace the black and white mustangs (both meant for nothing but freeway chases); the only mark is a gold star on the side doors. You cant see that from the front or back, so this white firebird is behind me with red lights flashing from its dash…I waved him up beside me, saw the stars and ~then~ pulled over.
The cop gave me a rashion of shit after he was satisfied I wasnt the perp he was looking for because I told him I wouldnt have pulled over if he hadnt had the stars on the side; ‘You see lights flashing behind you, you pull over and thats that.’ I said ‘But you have to identify yourself as an officer of the law, how do you do that in an unmarked car?’ and he said smartasses belong in cells. I was unsure about the rule of thumb, but this just confirms what I allready thought; another asshole Cal cop thinking hes god.
Interesting. Where are they getting the Firebirds? Are they buying them used, or is GM making some special police-only Firebird? They stopped selling them a couple of years ago.
Not that I’m doubting you. I’m just wondering if they’re continuing to add Firebirds and how. It seems to me the new Mustangs would be preferable over buying used Firebirds.
In milwaukee I’ve seen people getting pulled over in firebirds as well COMPLEATLY unmarked, normal plates, no spot lights, I think it even had hubcaps*. As for pulling over, I thought I heard somwhere that while you do have to pull over for a police officer (duh!) there’s no limit to how far you can drive before doing so. Doesn’t mean the cop won’t give you a mouthful for doing so, or a ticket, but if it’s true I’m sure the judge would throw it out.
Voodoochile: If I were in your shoes and I caught the name of the officer or the license plate on the car, I’d probably call in a complaint. Cops are there to protect people, not waste taxpayers money acting like they’re “god”
*When I see a plain Crown Vic, the first thing I always check is the hub caps, police cars rarely have hubcaps. On a side note, a friend of mine got a ticket at Summerfest for underage drinking. As he was getting the ticket he looked down and noticed the undercover officers shoes. He said he wouldn’t have been caught if he had notcied them before hand. Totally black shoes, black trim, black laces, black soles. Probably his uniform shoes. Now that I’ve typed that out I see it’s totally unrealted, but oh well.
If your talking about a marked vehicle, this is incorrect., there are some charges you can be looking at if you don’t pull over as soon as it’s safe to do so, and the judge isn’t going to throw it out.
Another thing, having a police car with lights and siren on doesn’t mean it’s you that’s getting pulled over. Pull over for all emergency vehicles.
No, good question, because I was wondering the same. So, I did some looking and I was wrong; apparently theyre 2002 Z28s. I cant find a pic anywhere of the type that pulled me over, but this
http://www.sspmustang.org/camaro/camaro144.htm
is similar except for the Z28 I saw was the last ‘stylish’ body model, had no lights on top, no text on the side of the car, no antennas visible and the star was maybe 2/3rds the size as the one in the pic. The lights were a flat row along the dash, not noticable except when on. As I say, ‘almost’ unmarked.
Apparently theyve had them in So Cal for awhile, but I do alot of driving up here all around the bay area and to Tahoe and down south to San Luis Obispo but have only recently started seeing them.
Interestingly, when I was looking this up, apparently down south the CHP has been at times converting seized cars. One message board, some guy reported being pulled over by a CHP Audi A4 and another by a CHP Volvo.
Sorry, I guess I implied that. I suppose if you were being pulled over at noon downtown, that’s one thing, I should have mentioned that I meant something more like midnight in the middle of nowhere. Also even if it were midnight in the middle of nowhere I wouldn’t care if it was marked. I can tell you for a FACT that just becuase it’s a marked car does NOT mean it’s an officer. I was at work one day and a Milwaukee police car pulled up to the store (Milwaukee, Cudahy and St Francis police as well as Milwaukee Sheriffs stop in all the time for food) and out came two kids, looked about 17 years old. I’m sure they weren’t officers. My only guess is that either Officer Dad was on break at home and fell asleep or they work at the station and took it for a joyride (with or without permission). Thinking back, we probably should have called the police, but we never did.
I remember reading a thread about this not so long ago but I’m too lazy to look for it. The gist of it seemed to be that you are allowed to proceed to a “safe” area, such as a gas station, restaurant, toll booth, etc., before pulling over - anywhere there are other people around. If that happens to be 30 miles down the road, so be it.
In general though, unmarked cars will radio a marked car to stop you further ahead.
The stealth interceptors that the OPP and the regional forces are using now , have a subdued low observable graphic on the side ,that only shows up under driving lights.
As for your post , at least up here I have only had a couple of normal cop cars hit the highbeams , while traveling in Toronto, on the highway at night , the cops are gonna have to use the disco lights for me to even notice em.
Its not uncommon for someone to hit the highbeams/lowbeams to indicate that they wish to pass you , would you kindly move to another lane.
Declan
Yeah, wouldn’t have hurt. They may have been recruits from the academy, though.
Depending on the department one need only be 18 to get hired on. For some it’s 21. The department I work for it’s 18.
While I don’t have any issue with your comparison between california law enforcement officers and anal sphincters, I am suprised that you had to endure such treatment from a CHP officer. Are you sure it wasn’t a county sheriff or a local yokel?
I’ve had many dealings with officers here in CA, from city cops to sheriffs to CHP, and the CHP are far and away the most professional. If your attitude was respectful and your tone was matter of fact and not accusatory, then I am honestly shocked that you received such abuse from a CA Highway Patrol officer. It is far below their standards for professional demeanor and should have been reported.
And, BTW, the CHP stealth vehicles are camaros, not firebirds. And they were phased in initially to enforce commercial traffic laws (i.e., catch big rigs) although I am hearing more and more stories of passenger vehicles being stopped by them.
I was driving home on a SoCal freeway one evening and suddenly came upon a scene of chaos in the middle of the road. Usually, chaos causes backups miles long but this was different, because (I presumed) it was just happening. Sometimes you come across an incident just as it is happening, but rarely.
A small nondescript sedan, apparently disabled or malfunctioning, was driving much slower than the rest of traffic, with its hazard lights on, and crossing multiple lanes at once, heading for the right shoulder. The other cars in its vicinity were giving it as little leeway as possible before passing it impatiently. I slowed down and waited for the vehicle to cross my lane before proceeding past it.
When suddenly, and without warning, the car reversed its direction and swerved back across my lane! It would have hit me if I hadn’t taken evasive action… and I’m lucky my evasion didn’t make me hit another car.
As I passed him this time, I looked at the driver to offer him some advice in the form of an instructional gesture, and it was a police officer, very young, cursing and sweating behind the wheel. Suddenly it dawned on me: this idiot was trying to run a traffic break in an unmarked vehicle.
(In a normal “traffic break,” a marked CHP cruiser will turn on its lights and swerve across all lanes of traffic, steadily slowing down, so as to stop all traffic on a section of highway. They usually do this so that wreckage or hazards can be safely cleared on the road ahead.)
I should have taken down his license plate numbers and reported him, but I bet he learned his lesson regardless: people in the other cars can’t see your badge, dimwit.
My next thought was “Ha! I’d like to see him try that stunt in Boston!” :wally
No, I think “flash his lights” refers to hitting his flashers, and I don’t mean the emergency four-way flashers, but the flashing emergency vehicle lights. And yeah, it could be high beams in conjunction with the colored lights (never alone), but they flash in such a manner that you know they’re not some dude just wanting to pass.