Teaneck police unmarked vehicles? Sorta

[ChrisJM981 924]

Wasn't there a video where the bergen county PD was using a chrysler minivan?

If you saw the video you would think they wouldn't do that anymore. :facebook:

[ktd1597 10]

Yes, and they got into a pissing match with NJSP, because people were carjacked by police impersonators who pulled people over in a minivan(contrary to what some have said about police impersonations not being a big deal in NJ).  

Fortunately nearly no one uses minivans to do motor vehicle stops.  Much more likely to be a Crown Vic, Chevy type, Charger of SUV like the vehicles we are all used to seeing as patrol cars.   In addition to not driving a "regular" style Patrol vehicle it was also in that same area and in the recent past.  A trifeca of reasons to believe it warranted further investigation.......Reason number 4 would be they weren't regular uniformed Officers.   Four reasons at once to believe it needed further investigation, not just a hunch b/c it was an unmarked vehicle.  

[ktd1597 10]

The real issue isn't whether they are unmarked or not, it is whether they have a light bar on top or not.  Ghost lettering on side is inconsequential because you cannot see the sides while being stopped.  Only the front is visible and marking are rarely visible from front whether they are ghost lettering or fully striped out.  

 

That being said, slick top police cars have been used for years with little issue.

[Malice4you 627]

If a minivan tried to stop me, I'd get into an accident from laughing too hard.  If I survived the wreck, I'd probably get tazed because I'd still be laughing uncontrollably and pointing my finger at the poor cop who had to drive it.

 

What annoys me is that all these random types of cop cars don't always have SP/SG/CG/MG/MU plates anymore.  I doubt I'd immediately pull over for some of the unmarked cars I've seen being used as cop cars, but if I saw one of those kind of plates, I'd be more likely to.  However, I'd probably still call the police to verify if a minivan or Mustang or any other non-standard police vehicle tried to pull me over.  It isn't hard to make or buy fake lights.  Then again, it's also not hard to buy a used Crown Vic...but making or buying fake lights costs a hell of a lot less.  I made a 2 panel red and blue LED flashing light box as a prop to use on private property, and it cost me about $11.  I could make a convincing-enough 6 or 8 LED panel that would look enough like a real light bar for around $30...and I'm confident almost anyone seeing that behind them would pull over.  If I can do it, I'm sure someone else will or already has.

And for reference, none of my lights will ever be used in an illegal manner or to impersonate any emergency vehicle, they are only for use as a prop on private property, nor would I ever sell any of my lights.

[DeerSlayer 241]

If you have doubt the car pulling you over is a cop drive directly to the police station in that town. That's a sure fire way to find out for sure if the guy is a legit cop or not. Without pulling over for an impersonator putting yourself at risk.

 

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[Holeshot 3]

If a minivan tried to stop me, I'd get into an accident from laughing too hard.  If I survived the wreck, I'd probably get tazed because I'd still be laughing uncontrollably and pointing my finger at the poor cop who had to drive it.

 

What annoys me is that all these random types of cop cars don't always have SP/SG/CG/MG/MU plates anymore.  I doubt I'd immediately pull over for some of the unmarked cars I've seen being used as cop cars, but if I saw one of those kind of plates, I'd be more likely to.  However, I'd probably still call the police to verify if a minivan or Mustang or any other non-standard police vehicle tried to pull me over.  It isn't hard to make or buy fake lights.  Then again, it's also not hard to buy a used Crown Vic...but making or buying fake lights costs a hell of a lot less.  I made a 2 panel red and blue LED flashing light box as a prop to use on private property, and it cost me about $11.  I could make a convincing-enough 6 or 8 LED panel that would look enough like a real light bar for around $30...and I'm confident almost anyone seeing that behind them would pull over.  If I can do it, I'm sure someone else will or already has.

And for reference, none of my lights will ever be used in an illegal manner or to impersonate any emergency vehicle, they are only for use as a prop on private property, nor would I ever sell any of my lights.

 

Depending on the Dept. and what they are doing some LE vehicles run fictitious plates.  

[ktd1597 10]

If you have doubt the car pulling you over is a cop drive directly to the police station in that town. That's a sure fire way to find out for sure if the guy is a legit cop or not. Without pulling over for an impersonator putting yourself at risk.

 

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I think I would need something more than a hunch it wasn't a police car.  If you had to drive four or five miles to get to the HQ you could probably figure that the other three or four cars weren't impersonators either.  And or course your guaranteed ticket.  

[Bob2222 317]

One of the local towns has had a few cars like this for a few years now:

 

Some years ago (long before there was a functional internet), Mercedes Benz studied car colors and visibility to determine the safest colors for public safety vehicles. They found that under most lighting and weather conditions, the most visible was a combination -- a white body structure with orange or chartreuse doors/hood/trunk lid. After that, the most visible under most lighting and weather conditions (obviously not in a snow storm) was the color that reflects the most light -- white.

 

Since I read about this, we've purchased a succession of white cars.

 

Anecdotal evidence -- but we soon noticed that we weren't getting into accidents as often as before. We accumulated over 700,000 miles with a number of white cars over several decades before I was hit (very minor damage) from behind in my Volvo.

 

I agree about the "cool" factor, and in a perfect world, I'd drive a dark colored car -- but considering how insulated and inattentive drivers seem to be, I'd prefer to drive a vehicle that's visible to one that's stealthy.

[NickySantoro 211]

Teaneck police unmarked vehicles? Sorta

 

We've been told that a visible police presence was valuable as a deterrent to crime. Wouldn't these unmarked stealth vehicles seem to be counter to that philosophy? 

[High Exposure 5,671]

Teaneck police unmarked vehicles? Sorta

 

We've been told that a visible police presence was valuable as a deterrent to crime. Wouldn't these unmarked stealth vehicles seem to be counter to that philosophy?

 

These are not great "Patrol Cars". They are good for traffic enforcement/traffic safety, anti-crime, investigators, admin-types, etc....

 

It is all about choosing the right tool for the right job. A visible police presence is good for deterring some kinds of crime, but it is not always so good for investigating or solving crimes that already occurred or staying hidden to catch people "in the act". This style is like a hybrid of a marked patrol car and a true stealth car.

 

Sometimes knowing that an agency has a "stealthy" car that can hide anywhere in plain sight also does a lot to create safer traffic conditions and deter some kinds of crime.

 

If that "stealth" car can be anywhere, people start to believe it is everywhere and drive/act accordingly.

 

No one that I know of is switching their entire fleet to this type of car.

[DeerSlayer 241]

My cousin is a cop in NYC his precinct has a taxi, doesn't get more stealthy than that in the city. He said the only thing that sucks about it is, sometimes people jump in the back and demand a ride lol.

 

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[DeerSlayer 241]

I think I would need something more than a hunch it wasn't a police car. If you had to drive four or five miles to get to the HQ you could probably figure that the other three or four cars weren't impersonators either. And or course your guaranteed ticket.

if three or four other marked cars joined the parade I would pull over for obvious reasons. But an unmarked mini van? I'm not stopping for.... please anyone could put lights in the grill of a minivan, could be a car jacker. Exactly what I would say when we arrived at the cop shop. If they don't like it too bad drive a normal raido car and this problem could be avoided. I'm not putting my life at risk because they want to be cute patroling in a mom mobile. Write the ticket, I have a lawyer no big deal. By ten AM Monday morning I make a cops pay for 2 days usually. I can afford the ticket and the lawyer to make it disappear.

 

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[seamusSU 0]

Mercedes Benz studied car colors and visibility...the most visible under most lighting and weather conditions (obviously not in a snow storm) was the color that reflects the most light -- white.

Makes sense that Mercedes did that study since that is a very common color pattern in European countries

[ktd1597 10]

if three or four other marked cars joined the parade I would pull over for obvious reasons. But an unmarked mini van? I'm not stopping for.... please anyone could put lights in the grill of a minivan, could be a car jacker. Exactly what I would say when we arrived at the cop shop. If they don't like it too bad drive a normal raido car and this problem could be avoided. I'm not putting my life at risk because they want to be cute patroling in a mom mobile. Write the ticket, I have a lawyer no big deal. By ten AM Monday morning I make a cops pay for 2 days usually. I can afford the ticket and the lawyer to make it disappear.

 

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I wasn't talking about the minivans.  I would absolutely agree with you about not stopping.  BTW....I've never had a good ticket "disappear" when a lawyer arrives.  Maybe if Johnnie Cochran arrives I might consider it given all the recent zombie stuff!  

[DeerSlayer 241]

I wasn't talking about the minivans. I would absolutely agree with you about not stopping. BTW....I've never had a good ticket "disappear" when a lawyer arrives. Maybe if Johnnie Cochran arrives I might consider it given all the recent zombie stuff!

you're correct they don't disappear they be come a lesser charge with a much higher price.

 

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[deerpark 83]

Seems to me that having cruisers marked as conspicuously as possible would have the most impact on things like speeding and aggressive driving. If we agree that preventing the offense in the first place is the best result, all patrol cars should be clearly marked. If not, let's all just call it what it is.

 

Forget that.

 

Its about revenue generation. 

 

Strange trend that cars and uniforms everywhere are going black. 

[HuntingPaper 62]

I've seen several of those stealth patrols here in Montclair for some time. Those look very nice

[ryan_j 0]

My cousin is a cop in NYC his precinct has a taxi, doesn't get more stealthy than that in the city. He said the only thing that sucks about it is, sometimes people jump in the back and demand a ride lol.

 

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I have seen that and I wondered why they would do that. 

[raz-0 1,259]

Just curious.... How are unmarked/stealth cars a problem for speed enforcement and what law are you referring to that the PDs may be trying to avoid?

 

Well I can tell you two issues with them. 

 

1) No cop will argue that in general, the visible presence of a marked cruiser alters the behavior of drivers. Parking a visibly marked cruiser in the median will get traffic as a whole to chill out and behave more. Similar for cruising within traffic. Stealthy "marked" cruisers reduce that effect. 

 

2) officer safety. Apparently the officer has a fair amount of control over which lights get lit THe car I encountered only had a razor thin portion of the outline as retroreflective black, and had all the lights facing the side of traffic approaching on the same side of the road turned off dealing with what appeared to be a minor single vehicle accident.  I can definitely say it was REALLY hard to determine if the officer was out of the vehicle and if any of the vehicle passengers were either (answer to the officer question was YES). He might have screwed up, but it was NOT good juju for people seeing you at least moving in front of the vehicle.

 

3) Officers being jerks.  Cops can and do screw around in their cruisers. They seem to think they are protected by a magic forcefield of authority. I argue some of that magic forcefield comes from being in a marked cruiser that is set up to be visible. I've almost gotten creamed by the last generation of caprice classics with cops racing each other with all their lights off and generally being giant unsafe douches. Recently I almost got creamed by a stealth marked ford taurus that was just speeding like the cops in that town have ALWAYS done while on duty. They are speed nazis there, and if you saw a cop car, you expected to be subjected to a moderate to severe speed differential.  You do not expect what looks like a base model black taurus when it comes around the curve up the road to then floor it right at you at top speed as you are turning onto that street. It's not the first time I've encountered the general pattern of behavior, and it wasn't nearly so surprising witht he clearly marked white cruisers, and the clearly marked black and white cruisers. It honestly felt like as close a call as the gross misbehavior with the caprices, and it was not nearly as hairy a situation to start as the speed differential was MUCH lower and I had greater distance to where I could first see the vehicle. 

 

It might be revenue generation, or it might just be stupid fashion dictating what makes the coolest toys to spend the budget on. 

[DeerSlayer 241]

I have seen that and I wondered why they would do that.

so they can catch people j walking, making rights on red, stopping in crosswalks. The basic stuff idiots that drive in the city do every day.

 

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[ryan_j 0]

Another example of why traffic stops should always be in marked cars.

 

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/23/make-pretending-to-be-cop-pulls-over-woman-handcuffs-her-then-does-the-unspeakable/

[ktd1597 10]

SO very rare to have cop impersonators.  It does happen, but if you calculate all of the police car stops the percentage would be astronomically low.