Painting my car police colors

Factual Questions
21

I don’t believe it is illegal to have the wig-wags, just illegal to use them. About half the cars auctioned actually come with the wig-wags lights, just without the relay switches that controls them. The people decommishoning them probably get lazy and don’t take them out. Plus their new cars come with a new set of lights anyway.

Now for a light bar, just get one of those fully clear covered ones fitted with amber lights. I think you can only use them for emergancy and construction type reasons, but would never the less scare some people. However, still not a good idea. When you’re on the highway, you’ll be boxed in by people who think your a cop doing 45 in a 55. (Why people go lower than the posted speed limit around cops I’ll never know.)

22

Why would it be illegal? What law would he be breaking? I can see a problem with doing it for the purpose of impersonating a police officer, or if he used any actual logos. But just the colour scheme? Any cites?

23

As per my father-in-law, who used to work for several businesses that supplied cars for various TV and movie production companies, you can paint your car to look exactly like a police car, as long as you don’t use any departments’ real emblems (you could put, for example, LPAD but not LAPD.)
As for the lights and siren, they’re not illegal until you turn them on. The second you flip that switch - big trouble.
The movies get away with it by getting permits and permission from the department whose name they want to use.
Just for the record, IANAL and none of the above is to be taken as legal advice in any way, shape, or form. YMMV

Peace-DESK

24

Color schemes are not illegal. Just not a good idea if your the type that doesn’t want attention drawn to themselves. I see black caprices with the white doors all the time and with what’s left after they rip the decals off of them on. Nothing illegal about it. And i’m sure if there is in anal city in this country, they could just spray the car with a less than macco job and ship it.

25

Not on any show Sniffs_Markers has ever worked on (or I have ever seen.) You can drive a “picture car” from the studio lot to the location. The only time a truck brings them in is if they are vintage vehicles that may not be 100% road worthy.

The picture cars are all licenced. Meaning they have proper plates insurance etc. They can all drive legally on the road. Our friend Danny is a driver and you see him puttering down the road in a cop car routinely (granted someof the cop cars are NYC cops, or Cooneticuit etc.) Any cop who saw the licence plate would know it’s a picture car right away ('cause they aren’t police plates) or could run the plates to see which production company owns the vehicle.

Fake plates are attached when they get to location. If the car is supposed to be from another geographic region (e.g. many “New York” shows are filmed in Toronto.) the fake licence plate is affixed by the props guys once the car arrives at the closed location. (If they are being sloppy, occasionally you can see an Ontario licence onwhat is supposed to be a yellow, New York cab.)

The police cars on the exterior, look identical to the real ones. The lights on top work too. If you look at the interior though, there’s none of the computer stuff, radio or any of that cool police stuff. The interior is just regular car stuff.

So how do you tell it’s not a real one? The average person probably couldn’t at a glance, but we always know when we see a picture car going to and from the lot because instead of a cop driving it, you see an ordinary guy wearing a t-shirt. (That and the picture cars are always WAY too clean.)

The film permits are very extensive so the city, the real police, and fire dept. etc., are fully aware of the comings and goings of the fake police cars. If they saw a picture car puttering around where they weren’t expecting it to be, they might pull it over.

Driving too and from the lot/location, Danny is not “impersonating a police officer.” For one, he’s usually just wearing jeans and a t-shirt, secondly, his career would be over if he ever decided to turn on the lights or siren off set and “pull someone over for fun.”

Note: This is in Toronto. I don’t know about NYC or LA, so YMMV.

26

The decals.

Of course the “Andy Griffith” car’s decals were not official ones; but IIRC the state ruled that the car looked similar enough to an official car (in spite of its age) that it violated the law.

I am at a loss to explain this. They shouldn’t be allowed on the road because they appear to be real police cars. (“Shouldn’t” as in “legally shouldn’t”, not “shouldn’t” as in “I think it’s wrong.”) Maybe the laws have changed? Of course there are a lot of cars out there that legally are not permitted to be on the road, but they are anyway.

27

Just to add to this, growing up in Chicago in the 80’s, I had seen on occasion the Hill Street Blues police cars going down the road, as if they were on a lunch run or something - i.e., they weren’t filming anything that I saw.

28

I actually had to go and ask Sniff_Markers about this because – for a minute – I wasn’t sure either. I’ve seen them on the road all the time. (Kinda disconcerting to have a cop car behind you and when it finally overtakes, your friend is waving from the front seat.) Markers deals with all the permits, insurance and related paperwork for all the location stuff, so if they weren’t allowed on the road (between the set and the lot) she’d know about it.

On set, there are plenty of real cops around too (there have to be duty officers on film sets.) Their cars are generally indistinguishable – at least to me. I can only tell when the picture cars apart because they are too clean and shiny (no cop ar is that clean).

The cars are licenced, registered vehicles – as far as I know they are fully permitted to be on the road.

Actually, I’m going to go call one of the transportation guys ASAP and ask because now I’m really curious for a second opinion.

I’ll get back to ya as soon as I get a diffinitive answer. (Remember, this would be for Ontario, local laws where you are may vary.)

29

A-ha! The definitive answer!

Better than one of the drivers, I called a Transport Co-ordinator. She is in charge of all those vehicles.

The picture cars are identical to the real ones, BUT when on the road travelling form the lot to the location, they have magnetic decals that go over the part that says “to serve and protect”. The decals say in really big letters “FILM PRODUCTION VEHICLE.”

This I’ve never noticed, but then I’ve really only paid attention when they’ve been on set (and the cover up decals are off). I’ve seen them on the road, but never noticed the change (because aforementioned friends were waving from the front seat.)

The plates they have are also like dealer plates (I never noticed that either).

Picture cars must also have their film permits visible from the front window and often (but not awalys) the lights are covered with fabric when they are being transported betweent he lot and the location.

She also said that transport guys have gotten themsleves knee deep in crappola from screwing around – some guys working on one show were speeding down an empty road with the lights and sirens on for fun, and the real cops showed up within minutes, follwed them back to the production lot and charged them with “impersonating an officer.”

She said the cops will also take away your “dealer plates” and it’s $1500 to get them back, so goofing around in a picture car is a defninte no-no.