Guys be extra extra cautious! Undercover police!

[mistasparkle]

I know you have been hearing about more and more popos on the street but get this. :shock:

My friend has a 2004 camry and is taking me and a couple of guys out to lunch. Hes a teenager so go figure about his driving. He takes a turn at about 30 and chirps a little (very little). He gets to a stoplight then goes on the freeway. We follow the traffic to an exit to mc donalds and we hit about 80 (illegal i know). We go to a stoplight and he is on the left side trying to get to the right lane to get into mc donalds. He speeds up at green and gets over and then goes into mcdonalds. A gray minivan follows us in... We park and the minivan blocks us in!! two guys get out and flash their badges and tell him that hes getting a ticket . Apparently they followed us from when he 'drifted' all the way to mcdonalds and they are also cops! They dispatched a patrol car over and gave him the ticket. They only gave him speeding but could have gotten him for much much worse. There was no arguing to be done they just told him to shut up and they gave him the ticket. Be extray wary guys because this was totally out of the blue and the two cops were in a minivan with tinted windows. its getting crazy over here so just watch yourself. Good luck and drive SAFE. :shock: :shock:

[Coolguy949]

Is that legal?? I thought it had to be a marked car. That's probably why they brought in the other cop cause you have to be given a ticket from a cop driving a marked car. I think.

[drmosh]

That's not uncommon, lot of special task squads drive undercover vehicles, including task forces such as GTA, drug, and gang task forces all drive undercover vehicles. I once watched an arrest of a GTA suspect, they stopped the car in the middle of an intersection, every car in the intersection was undercover police. The funny thing is, if you looked carefully you could tell because every single one was an American car. There was about 10 undercover cars with a helicopter overhead.

With Homeland Security grabbing new budget and bigger budgets I'm sure some of the task forces have been assigned to watch out for "street racers" which could mean anything like a car with a big wing to lots of stickers to kids in Camrys!!

[mprtklr]

its bullshit, its LAW that an unmarked police car CANNOT stop you. period.

[Ricardon]

Are you sure about that? I always thought that too, but think about this...citizen's arrest? You can technically detain someone for comitting a crime, no? I wonder how this type of situation fits in there? Interesting to think about no? Another thing, what the hell did he do so wrong that caused an unmarked to follow him all the way into Mac D's?? And what the hell were they doing that they broke away from that was not as important as running down and stopping a speeder in a camry? Kinda shady on many levels, no?

[mprtklr]

CHP VC states says that and I quote " It is an individuals own judgment call to pull over for an unmarked unit. "

and i dont know, if it was a citizen, could stop you for speeding???

who knows though right?

[GokuSSJ4]

well remember that street racing has gotten out of hand and movies release like F2F and similar don't help either . An cops are trying ( i guess :roll:) to catch peeps that are driving unsafe on the streets ... So the words gets around .....

[mistasparkle]

technically he didnt pull us over. We didnt even know he was behind us. We pulled into the parking spot and he blocked us in and got out and flashed badge.

[QuickShifter]

id like to see a gray mini van with tints follow me in my evo!!!!.....not happening

[drmosh]

There is a catch, they can pull up next to you and show you a badge, then you may just have to pull over.

[wtfitsjames]

shady homo's

[Ricardon]

just walk away from the fucker next time! I wonder how that would work out. I was speeding once on the 10 fwy in west covina when i was in high school, and a detective didn't approve, driving an unmarked crown vic, he pulls up next to my drivers side, leans over and presses his wallet against his window so his badge showed, while going about 75 mind you (speed limit was 55 then). Luckily, I had my wallet in the center console, and pretty much without skipping a beat reach down and pressed my wallet against the window so my student id was visible,and cocked my head to the side and looked at him cross-eyed. He didn't like that much and slammed his brakes to get behind me, I did the exact same thing at almost the same time and went across 2 lanes to get off the freeway, he didn't make the exit. I wonder how long that pissed him off for that day, especially since he never caught me. Prolly had his panties in a bunch at least all day!

[leaveit2bevo]

Fuck him I would have gone inside and eaten

[Absinthe]

its bullshit, its LAW that an unmarked police car CANNOT stop you. period.

This is wrong.

The law is that ruotine traffic stops are discouraged for officers that are not in marked cars and in uniform. That said if you violate enough laws, and you can make a case this kid did, Unmarked cars can stop you for traffic violations the law just states that it has to be a modle and color of car preapproved by that department. So bassically a cop in any department car can stop you just not when he is off duty or in his personal car.

[rubelcon]

I work in La Mirada, on Alondra Blvd., which is controlled by the LACS.

After many brushes with the law, I have gained some inside information to my local sheriff's department. Indeed, we have the 3 top citing officers in all of La County working Alondra through the cities of Santa Fe Springs, La Mirada, and Norwalk.

Well, guess what? The top citing officer in all of LA County drives a unmarked white caprice with a green jump suit. Watch out on Alondra!!

[Secret Chimp]

In every other state I have lived in, there have been unmarked police cars. In VA, the cops would patrol rte 66 in an unmarked Camaro (white with orange stripes). On the beltway that goes around Washington DC, there was an unmarked dark blue 2 door Ford Explorer that would patrol. In MD, I saw unmarked Caprices and Explorers also. In PA, the undercover cars were mostly blue or black Caprices.

In all those states, the law was that those unmarked cars could indeed pull you over. But if you felt threatened or unsure that they were real cops, you could request a marked car. And usually if you made the undercovers bring a marked car to the scene, the undercovers got pretty pissed off at you....and you were pretty much going to get a ticket for something.

[mprtklr]

its bullshit, its LAW that an unmarked police car CANNOT stop you. period.

This is wrong.

The law is that ruotine traffic stops are discouraged for officers that are not in marked cars and in uniform. That said if you violate enough laws, and you can make a case this kid did, Unmarked cars can stop you for traffic violations the law just states that it has to be a modle and color of car preapproved by that department. So bassically a cop in any department car can stop you just not when he is off duty or in his personal car.

i dont want to start an argument, BUT this is C.V.C.

"The State of California hereby declares and states that the increased number of persons impersonating law enforcement officers by making routine traffic stops while using unmarked cars is a threat to the public health and safety of all the citizens of the State of California; therefore it shall be unlawful for any municipal police department to use any vehicle which is not clearly marked as a law enforcement vehicle for routine traffic enforcement except as provided in Section 12-218 of Title 47 of the California Statutes. In addition to Section 12-218 of Title 47 of the California Statutes, the peace officer operating the law enforcement vehicle for routine traffic stops shall be dressed in the official uniform including shoulder patches, badge, and any other identifying insignias normally used by the employing law enforcement agency."


pure and simple, as i stated an unmarked car cannot stop you PERIOD.

[Absinthe]

Your right we are missing each other. Since it can be argued (and will be) that this kid you were with made one move as the cops saw it worthy of wreckless driving, then speed away doing 15 over the limit, then speeding away from a stop and cutting people off while makeing a right turn from the left lane.
this no longer became a routine stop.

at which point what I said applies which is basically if an egregious enough traffic violation occurs the police in an unmarked department approved car can pull you over, I knew this to be true through last year and dont think the law has changed. I have seen this happen when I watched a cop in an unmarked car let the world speed buy him at 15-20 over the limit but pulled a guy over who used the shoulder to pass. This happend on the 505 headed to chico last year.

Further more in you story these cops just detained you until the cops in uniform, in the marked car, got there.

[Absinthe]

Clearly marked is also defined some where in CVC as an approved mono tone car. just ask some of the I-club boys who found this out in Carquinez up north.

who got nailed by cops in a plain navy crown vics for racing each other on the freeway.

[CarPhoto.net]

My friends in front of me cut off me off in front of the police and it was an unmarked car with HIDDEN sirens and lights.

Does Section 12-218 of Title 47 count this as unmarked?

It was compleately undercover until the light came on.

[mprtklr]

im sure there are stipulations regarding egregarious abuse and law breaking. this only pertains to your typical traffic stop. meaning that a plain crown vic cant sit at a corner with a radar gun and tag you.

[leaveit2bevo]

I had a book about fighting tickets and it said if a undercover cop tries to pull you over dont stop, apperently they dont like having incidents with unmarked ccars.

[Absinthe]

im sure there are stipulations regarding egregarious abuse and law breaking. this only pertains to your typical traffic stop. meaning that a plain crown vic cant sit at a corner with a radar gun and tag you.

you are correct

[Evo-8]

except as provided in Section 12-218 of Title 47 of the California Statutes. In addition to Section 12-218 of Title 47 of the California Statutes


What the hell does this mean. Can someone find out? Cuz this could basically be saying, an undercover car cannot pull u over except if he feels he should pull u over. Unless we know what the "Except" part says we dont know shit.

[Coolguy949]

That's probably why they brough in the marked polive car. I bet you could have driven away and they wouldnt have done anything. Once they brought in the marked police car then it all became official.

[Secret Chimp]

I just read what mprtklr qouted from the CA law book....It looks to me like it says that the police cannot use an unmarked car for routine traffic enforcement except as provided in Section 12-218 of Title 47 of the California Statutes.

And that statute has a partial definifiton in the code....it seems to note that if a cop is going to conduct traffic enforcement in a vehicle, he has to be in uniform.

So this law could be construed to say that cops can conduct traffic enforcement in an undercover car as long as they are wearing their complete uniform. And they can conduct non-routine traffic enforcement from whatever vehicle they please. ??

SC~

[CACalomino]

kit was prob olff dujty cop my boss and i did the same thing to a drunk. even when off duty u are to up hold the law u cant pull people over but if something gets crazy u can put a stop to it