good story about what to do if an unmarked tries to pull you over that I got in an email
This story was recently sent to me by a friend. This actually happened
>to one of my dearest new friend's daughter.. Her daughter, Laura is a 19
>year old sophomore in college and it happened to her over the Christmas/New
>Year's
>holiday break. Until now, I never even knew about the #77 calling feature
>and
>I feel it is
>important enough to share with others!
>It was the Saturday before New Year's and it was about 1 PM in the
>afternoon.
>
>Laura was driving from Winchester, to visit a friend in
>Warrenton. Laura pulled out onto the interstate and started following a
>state police car. She was traveling just over 65 mph behind him. Soon
>thereafter an UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his
>lights on.
>My friend and her husband have 4 children (high school and college age)
>and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked police car
>onto the side of the road. Rather, they should dial #77 on their cell phone,
>tell
>the dispatcher that you will gladly pull over at the next gas station or
>some other populated area. Laura had actually listened to her parents'
>advice and promptly called #77 on her cell phone to tell the dispatcher that
>she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher
>that there were 2 cars, one unmarked behind her and the other, marked in
>front of her. The dispatcher promptly checked to verify there were in fact
>two(2) police cars where she was at. There wasn't and she was connected to
>the policeman in front of her and he told her to keep driving, remain calm
>and that he had back-up already on the way.
>Ten minutes later four(4) patrol cars surrounded her and the unmarked car
>behind her. One(1) policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the
>unmarked car behind hers. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him
>to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and was wanted for other
>crimes as well.
>I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car,
>you should not pull over for an unmarked car in a secluded area. In fact,
>even a marked car after dark should follow you to a populated area. Police
>have to respect your right to keep going to a "safe" place. You obviously
>need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (IE: put on your hazard
>lights or call #77 like Laura did.) I am so thankful that my friend was
>just sitting at our book club meeting telling us this scary story, rather
>than us sitting at her house consoling her! Pass this on to your
>friends, awareness is everything.
>
>
>