Plain clothed police cars.

[waynne]

Are plain clothed police cars unfair? (assuming cars wear clothes at all )

How do you spot them - my guess is more than 1 arial and usually something large like a Volvo. With blue flashing lights in the grill - hang on it's too late by then

[pgarner]

the fluorescent jackets are the biggest giveaway. around here its normally beemers and mercs although they have just got a focus.

i prefer the unmarked cars to the cameras at least they will allow you off with more leniency

[Izo Azlion]

Came up behind on about 80 on the motorway, was like "What're those small, rectangular things across the back of the windscreen...." then realised and was like "Okay slow lane behind this guy, niiiiice and 70mph"

Sneaky.

[Massive]

i think its entrapment! thats not fair when your driving around then unsuspectingly you get pulled over by a normal looking car

round here they are generally easy to spot either a black fiesta or vectra or a white mk2 astra, oh and look in the rear windows for the police led signs!

[kai_mitsurugi]

Black Evo 9 by us is the main one although there are a few Volvos about. You always see the Evo pulling some chav in a modded corsa/nova/clio/punto, etc..etc... Very nice though. It's the FQ-340 They have one with markings and that apparently is either the 360 or 400

[old-git]

Originally Posted by Massive

i think its entrapment! thats not fair when your driving around then unsuspectingly you get pulled over by a normal looking car

round here they are generally easy to spot either a black fiesta or vectra or a white mk2 astra, oh and look in the rear windows for the police led signs!

Entrapment is where you are persuaded or tricked into doing something illegal. If you decide to break the law you need to be very observant

[creature]

most of the time in my area all the cars are brought from the same area so we just look out for OU plates tend to be big black vectras or red or blue corsas. they have a new series of cars and were not sure what the plates are yet lol.

[HDi fun]

The unmarked cars aren't used exclusively for traffic duty. They're quite handy if it's necessary for police to infiltrate other covert criminal operations without being seen by the perpetrators.

Most traffic officers are extremely reasonable when it comes to speeding, especially on motorways. They really are not interested in blowing their cover until you're close to three figures.

[Prince]

I've seen Audi A4s being used around here. I've also heard that women don't have to stop for unmarked police officers (as it could be an attack). If you're are that worried about unmarked cop cars, then the only solution is don't speed, or at least don't speed to excess!

[project beamer uk]

yeah round my area its the vectra's but the thames valley police in my end of berkshire are pretty kl i have been pulled over twice and they aint asked bout my insurance details which is kl but yeah where i live its just look out for vectra's and if there aint any then do what the **** you like.

[sbtUK]

It seems to be Vectras and Astras around here for the most part. There is a MARKED Impreza WRX STi that looks pretty cool too.

If it's in my rear view mirror I look at how many people are in the car first of all. If there's only one person then chances are: it's not an unmarked car. According to a (rather useful) friend of mine in CID, they almost always have two officers in the car.

On occasion I've seen someone pull out and overtake and thought "they drive like a police officer". They've flown past me and then a few miles down the road I've seen the lights flashing and they've pulled someone over. There does seem to be something very "purposeful" about the way they drive. It's subtle and not always conclusive - but if you follow your instincts then you can spot it sometimes.

The majority of unmarked cars on the road belong to CID. They're not all higher powered cars, either. Allmost all of the time they're following someone wanted for another offence, rather than being out looking for people speeding etc. That is not to say that it doesn't happen, however; because it does; but a great deal of the people you see pulled over by unmarked cars are most likely being questioned about something other than speeding.

[TITAN]

my dad worked for AA and they were responsible for fixing police cars and they're not in fact modified in any way to increase power therefore catch people easier (as i thought) but they remove all badges of the model or engine size so they could have a 3.2l bmw and you wouldnt know therefore almost making a sleeper car

[waynne]

Thats very cheating TITAN

[HDi fun]

Thames Valley's traffic cars are standard in terms of power, but I'm told that the Vectras have the bigger brakes from its Saab 95 cousin. (not a bad thing because Vauxhalls have never had great brakes in my opinion, current Astra excepted - they stop well).

Source of information is a currently serving TVP Traffic Officer and TVP instructor whom I have no reason to doubt or disbelieve.

Not all are debadged either. I've seen liveried and covert Vectra's with 3.2 badges on the back in Met, TV and Northants regions.

As said earlier in this thread, covert cars are not just for traffic policing. They're used to intercept other activities in situations where a liveried car would blow the whole thing.

I do think that some police drivers are devoid of talent though. WHen you see the amount of crashed Panda cars in the local body shop you wonder what's going on.

Official line is that the officers concerned were responding to an emergency.

But, what's the point of driving so stupidly that you smash the car up on the way and don't arrive at all?

[project beamer uk]

yeah i saw an undercover policeman in a vectra the other day that had 3.2 v6 on the back and i also spoke to the highway agency guys who said that the vectra's are not modified in any way shape or form, they are just standard diesel v6's but they are still pretty quick though. also if your speeding on the motorway watch out for them as they said that the police are giving them control of catching speeding motorists on the motorways.

peace