Unmarked police cars are supposed to be hard to spot, right? Well in the States, they're pretty easy to identify - by no fewer than three characteristics:1. Most of them are Dodge Chargers
Whereas the police car ("interceptor") of choice has always been the Ford Victoria, police departments across the US think the best way to avoid detection is to disguise their vehicles as muscle cars. Perhaps they should be more imaginative in their range of models.
2. Most unmarked vehicles are black
More lack of imagination on the part of the nation's finest. And since relatively few regular cars are black, unmarked squad cars tend to stand out like a sore thumb - not least because they look like normal police vehicles, albeit without flashing lights on the roof or the stickers on the side.
3. Police vehicles have what looks like an extra wing mirror
This is the biggest giveaway of all. Because police officers want to be able to illuminate stopped cars at night without having to get out, they have a spotlight mounted next to the driver's (and sometimes the passenger's) side wing mirror, which they can move around using a clumsy-looking handle that extends inside the vehicle.
As a result, when you see a black Dodge Charger with what appears to be double wing mirrors, you have plenty of time to slow down, stop texting, put down your beer and hide your unlicensed guns before the cops see you.
6 comments:
You sir... have made an argument worthy of a 5 year old. Police don't drive around in that thinking that nobody knows they are law enforcement. They are called "unmarked" for a reason, because they have no markings. There are many "undercover" police cars that are actually disguised. You probably don't notice them because they are undercover.
Why are they unmarked then, if not to fool (potential) criminals?
They are "unmarked" because the are LESS noticeable than a marked cruiser with an exterior light bar. Come on now, lets use our heads.
Great article, shithead. These cars aren't meant to be "undercover", they're used for detective work and such and are known as "slick tops" and as Anonymous pointed out, cops don't think people don't know they're law enforcement. True undercover cars are impossible to spot because they're aren't any lights and they're not black fucking Dodge Chargers. All of the radios and equipment in an undercover car is also hidden. You could rent an undercover cop car and probably never find any of the shit driving around in the thing, because a) you're obviously a hippie douche bag and b) because its a real undercover cop car.
Thanks for your level-headed response, Steve. Have you tried anger management? If you'd bothered to read my post properly rather than getting on your high horse, you would have noticed that I never used the word "undercover". It was Anonymous who did. I merely pointed out that unmarked police cars are intended to be less conspicuous, though are relatively easy to spot nonetheless. However you are incorrect in your claim that they are used only for detective work. A cop in an unmarked vehicle regularly parks in a 35mph zone near us and tickets anyone who drives 37.
I think there is a very happy medium in the responses here. Although you didn't state anything about undercover police vehicles, I think anonymous was referring to some of your less clear points, such as it being harder to notice for example. I think you may be fuzzy on the difference between undercover and unmarked, unmarked vehicles may be staff vehicles not used for traffic stops, could be detective vehicles for only responding to scenes, or like you sort of mentioned for low profile jobs. Sometimes vehicles like black chargers are used to hide away, and at night, it is in fact harder to spot an unmarked black charger than say a white vehicle with reflective "police" on the side. Undercover vehicles on the other hand often times don't have any sort of police equipment and are really the ones aimed to be difficult to spot. Like the others said, most will not have lights at all, many don't have radios. UC units will often have a form of one way transmitters "wires" and will be utilized to signal to nearby unmarked or even marked units once something happens. I hope I was able to clarify some things!
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