The Moscow police have them, too!
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:y-PWqFwQVdgJ:www.1-18scalecars.com/0Ford_Crown_Victoria_LAPD.htm+moscow+police+crown+victoria&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
(note; image is of a MODEL, not actual car, of course ;))
Something else that adds to the effect of cabs looking like police cruisers at first glance: the cab sign on the roof can sometimes look a bit like police lights in that first glance. especially from a distance, where all you can make out is that there’s a big white sedan coming your way, and it has something on the roof.
S^G
I worked days, 12 hour shifts, and it was dark when I started and dark before I finished, usually, so I would have used it. Unfortunately, it was broken, but I had a good flashlight.
The hardest part of the job is finding locations. It’s hard enough sometimes during daytime hours; at night it is much, much harder.
What’s really interesting is, I’m in a position to know that there’s not really a lot of difference between the Interceptor and the public version of the Crown Vic. Okay, you can’t buy a Crown Vic new these days, but the Grand Marquis is still close enough. The biggest difference you’ll notice is the engine, and not much else.
As an aside, regular patrol cars in Northern Ireland used to be (understandably) very low key vehicles in comparison to those of other countries. Seeing the now standard “Battenburg” cars, white with alternate blue and yellow stripes back in the 80s was very rare indeed. You could spot the regular cop cars easily though after a while, they had a tint to the windows from the bulletproof glass.
Now though, new cars of all sorts seem to come with that tint to the windows, some sort of polarised glass I’m guessing. So even though those years are long past, when a salesman of some sort comes tearing up the motorway behind me in his big saloon, my immediate reaction is “Crap, the cops” and I kill my speed and tuck into the slow lane. Only of course to see some fool in a suit cruise past with his suit jacket hanging from the grab handle in the back :rolleyes:
Mum claims to have had an old cop car. There were a few holes around the interior where equipment was screwed in and loose panel fit where armour was taken out (again, this was a claim/guess by our mechanic).
Years ago, I had a night job delivering pizza and I acquired a retired taxi specifically for the job since the streets in some areas were (are) in disrepair and I didn’t want to risk the suspension of my regular car.
It was a 1989 Caprice that had originally belonged to the Louisiana State Troopers…still had a State of Louisiana asset tag riveted to the inside of the glove compartment door. The car had about 350,000 miles on it when I got it and I abused it for a couple of years before I quit the pizza job and gave the car away.
The car was white with black fenders (United Cab colors) and it was cool because a lot of people thought I was a cop and a lot of people thought I was a cab.
Cars would get out of my way when they saw me coming and a couple of times, I was delivering in a seedy neighborhood at night and I’d drive slow with the high beams on and everyone who was hanging out on the street would go inside when they saw me coming.
One night, I went to downtown New Orleans after work and I stopped at a redlight. All of a sudden someone pulled the back door open…scared the hell out of me. A well dressed man with a small suitcase jumped in the back seat and said “Airport, fast as you can get me there.”
I turned toward the guy and told him I wasn’t a taxi. He looked kind of startled when he realized there was no meter or radio or other taxi type stuff in the car. He then said “Here’s a Fifty…can you get me to the airport?” So off to the airport we went! 
After that, I was sure to keep the back doors locked…that story could have had a much different ending.
I was going to add the bit about them being cop cars but I see that is well covered. you need to understand that cops not only abuse cars but they get rid of them before they die of wear and tear. so cop cars are out there in large numbers. Recently here in Seattle I have noticed a lot of hybrid taxis cropping up, I wonder how the drivers feel going from a high performance V8 to a lawnmower under the hood?
When it comes to mistaking a car for a police car, it never happens to me with a taxi. However Grand Marquis have the same body and colors of unmarked State Police vehicles. The difference is they are rarely driven by anyone under 70. Its embarassing to pull over and let my grandmother pass.