unmarked police car making traffic stop?

[Steve Butters]

yesterday i saw something strange that i thought was illegal here...

there was a new chevy (i believe an impala) that had a car pulled over on the opposite side of freeway

the car had no markings on it what-so-ever indicating it was a police car....it had a small light bar inside of the car between the visors that was strobing red and blue, and the person in the driver seat was wearing full dress (gray uniform like highway patrol)

it even had normal civilian license plates

i was always told that unmarked cars cant make traffic stops in ohio, so i looked it up and heres the law

4549.13 Marking and equipment for motor vehicle used by traffic enforcement officers.

Any motor vehicle used by a member of the state highway patrol or by any other peace officer, while said officer is on duty for the exclusive or main purpose of enforcing the motor vehicle or traffic laws of this state, provided the offense is punishable as a misdemeanor, shall be marked in some distinctive manner or color and shall be equipped with, but need not necessarily have in operation at all times, at least one flashing, oscillating, or rotating colored light mounted outside on top of the vehicle. The superintendent of the state highway patrol shall specify what constitutes such a distinctive marking or color for the state highway patrol.

So any idea why that car was able to pull somebody over? The only thing i can think is that it says something about an offense punishable by a misdemeanor....so maybe it was a felony stop? like a stolen vehicle or something and the unmarked happened to see it and pulled them over? but if that is the case, dont officers usually have backup on felony stops? and if an unmarked is going to make a felony stop, dont they usually radio for a marked cruiser to make the actual stop?

is it possible that the person performing the stop was not an actual police officer? you hear of this happening quite often.

if that car tried to perform a stop on me, theres no way i would pull over for them...i would put my flashers on and call the police dept and tell them that an unmarked car is trying to pull me over and ask them to verify it

this was on 70 near 270 on the east side...i was going East but the unmarked car and the guy he had stopped were traveling West

Edited May 12, 2011 by Steve Butters

[FZRMatt]

I know that our department can't do it. However, this may be what makes it legal: "for the exclusive or main purpose of enforcing the motor vehicle or traffic laws of this state". If his exclusive or main purpose is not enforcing motor vehicle or traffic laws, but is he is still an officer on duty and in uniform, this may be his way around it. We have uniformed officers that work COTA special (uniformed officer in unmarked car with strobing lights) who do not have the purpose of enforcing traffic laws (they work disturbances on COTA buses) that under this loop hole could perform a like action. However, it does violate our directives. Personally, I would inform my family not to stop and call 911 for a marked car.

My guess is that it was one of our local police impersonators.

[NinjaNick]

You should never stop for an unmarked vehicle. Good way to get yourself killed these days. Let them follow you to a police station you know of, or a very public place.

Or, pull over, get out and go down in a blaze of glory. That's how a real gangsta does it.

Edited May 12, 2011 by NinjaNick

[jblosser]

Could've been James "Bubba" Stewart?

[chevysoldier]

Fzrmatt got it. I just had this discussion with a CPD officer yesterday. Main purpose for traffic enforcement is the key.

[Scruit]

Another time I called the police and reported an unmarked car that had a woman pulled over. The operator confirmed it was a police car. The lady was broken down and the officer stopped to help.

One time, I was driving home from the hardware store with 4 sheets of drywall on the roof rack of my car. A deer jumped out in front of me and the drywall didn't stop as quickly as the car did. About 9pm, dark, 4 sheets of drywall on the road in front of me. Although the drywall was wrecked I didn't want to leave it there for obvious safety reasons, so I put the hazards lights on and started loading them again.

An oncoming car slowed right down as it passed, then pulled a u-turn and parked behind me. Then the red/blue lights came on.

They asked what happened. Told them. They said they'd use their lights to give me a safer space to load up in, then they helped me load and I was on my way.

Never did say what department they were with. I asked if they were with the sheriff's office (was gonna call with an atta-boy). They just said; "We're state".

And it turned out the damage to the drywall was on the back, not the wall surface, so I was still able to use them.

[jagr]

Have you seen the unmarked cars with cameras all over them?

The cameras are angled on all four corners and aimed at car plates in other lanes.

Seine told me in automatically scans plated.

Whadupwitdat?

[ReconRat]

I've read about the special plate scanning. With the extra cameras. There will be more like it in the future.

I-70 out east has a Picktown unmarked on the freeway. It's black, but I thought it was a Mopar.

[imprez55]

I used to see "unmarked" cars with the words "police" and "dial 911" across the bumper, trunk and sideskirts with civilian plates. What would that fall under, its technically marked?

[FZRMatt]

Have you seen the unmarked cars with cameras all over them?

The cameras are angled on all four corners and aimed at car plates in other lanes.

Seine told me in automatically scans plated.

Whadupwitdat?

Stolen car plate readers. They can read 25,000 tags per minute. However, the driver still has to be able to read the information. They are only listening for the alert tone for a stolen vehicle.

[redkow97]

I used to see "unmarked" cars with the words "police" and "dial 911" across the bumper, trunk and sideskirts with civilian plates. What would that fall under, its technically marked?

if it says "police" in big enough letters that you could read it from your vehicle, I would say that it's "marked." Probably explicitly to skirt regulations on unmarked cars.

Not a new trick. Local PD has always had 1 or 2 white/grey/blue crown-vics with just "police" in black letters above the front fenders. Now it's usually black Chargers with gray "police" decals that glow white when headlights hit them. I think that's sort of extra sneaky, because during the day, it's damn hard to see them.

The low-profile light bars aren't easy to spot these days either. But hey, if i'm not breaking the law, it doesn't really matter to me...

[jporter12]

Stolen car plate readers. They can read 25,000 tags per minute. However, the driver still has to be able to read the information. They are only listening for the alert tone for a stolen vehicle.

They don't scan for want/warrants?

I see one in New Albany on occasion, at 62/161, just off the ramp, or on the off ramp. I'm guessing it's the same thing with cameras pointing in multiple directions.

[FZRMatt]

They don't scan for want/warrants?

I see one in New Albany on occasion, at 62/161, just off the ramp, or on the off ramp. I'm guessing it's the same thing with cameras pointing in multiple directions.

They may have the capabilities (not trained on them), but our L.E.A.D.S. system (where we get all of our vehicle/owner information from) runs so slowly that if there are more than a few cars on the road, by the time you get a tone back for a wanted parson, search through all of the tag information that has popped up, then figure out what car you are looking for, it would be next to impossible (at least extremely difficult). Like I said, they have the capabilitiy of running 25,000 tags per minute.

[Carwhore]

Could've been James "Bubba" Stewart?

hahaha +rep

[Scruit]

Those angled cameras are ALPR. Automatic License Plate Recognition. They scan the plates or passing/parked cars and run them against a computer looking for...

Police: (one or more of the following) Stolen car, stolen plates, invalid registration, suspension / warrants on registered owner, no insurance, no road tax etc.

Parking departments: Wanted cars (delinquent unpaid tickets etc)

[fox_racing_guy]

I thought I have seen a un-marked several times on I77 North just past RT82 (Brecksville or Broadview heights) Maybe it is marked? I remember it being a light blue Crown Vic.

[lightbulb]

From the Ohio State laws: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511

(A) “Vehicles” means everything on wheels or runners, including motorized bicycles, but does not mean electric personal assistive mobility devices, vehicles that are operated exclusively on rails or tracks or from overhead electric trolley wires, and vehicles that belong to any police department, municipal fire department, or volunteer fire department, or that are used by such a department in the discharge of its functions.

(B) “Motor vehicle” means any vehicle, including mobile homes and recreational vehicles, that is propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power or power collected from overhead electric trolley wires. “Motor vehicle” does not include utility vehicles as defined in division (VV) of this section, motorized bicycles, road rollers, traction engines, power shovels, power cranes, and other equipment used in construction work and not designed for or employed in general highway transportation, well-drilling machinery, ditch-digging machinery, farm machinery, and trailers that are designed and used exclusively to transport a boat between a place of storage and a marina, or in and around a marina, when drawn or towed on a public road or highway for a distance of no more than ten miles and at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour or less.

Police vehicles aren't vehicles. Really. It says it. Plain as day. Anything on wheels is a vehicle, unless it belongs to the police.

FACT: Police cars aren't vehicles

FACT: All motor vehicles are vehicles

THUS: Police cars aren't motor vehicles.

This means the "Any motor vehicle used by a member of the [police]... shall be marked in some distinctive manner or color... and etc." bit from 4549.13 doesn't apply to police cars ("vehicles that belong to the police"), because the law instead applies to only motor vehicles, which cannot be belong to a police department. But, if the police rented a car and used it for primarily traffic enforcement, they'd have to mark it.

Example of vehicles in the state of Ohio: office chairs, refrigerators, travel luggage, datacenter computer racks, matchbox cars, shopping carts, dresser drawers and sliding glass doors (they're on runners). But only when they're on wheels. So a things like a motorcycle with its wheels off, upside-down shopping cart, and a car on a lift isn't a vehicle.

Note that if any of those above vehicles belong to the police and are being used for police work, it's not a vehicle.

(A)(1) No person shall operate any vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley within this state, if, at the time of the operation, any of the following apply:

(a) The person is under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them.

(b) The person has a concentration of eight-hundredths of one per cent or more but less than seventeen-hundredths of one per cent by weight per unit volume of alcohol in the person’s whole blood.

© The person has a concentration of ninety-six-thousandths of one per cent or more but less than two hundred four-thousandths of one per cent by weight per unit volume of alcohol in the person’s blood serum or plasma.

(d) ... the person is drunk.

So they can hit you with an OVI (DUI) for adjusting a chair on wheels or opening a sliding door while drunk.

WHO THE FUCK WRITES THIS SHIT?

[Scruit]

If you are adjusting a wheeled chair on a public highway then you deserve a DUI.

[lightbulb]

Doesn't have to be on the road. It's "within this state", which includes privately owned property.

But I do agree with you.

[Scruit]

You can get a DUI on a bicycle, I know that...

Having said that, I'm not overly concerned about an officer ticketing me for wheeling my office chair from one desk to the other in my study after I've have a few Guinnesses.

[Ringo]

tbut are you sure thats up to date? Cause i saw a yellow camaro make a trafic stop down south a few weeks ago. Did you look for the sherrif thing on the back plate?

[Steve Butters]

tbut are you sure thats up to date? Cause i saw a yellow camaro make a trafic stop down south a few weeks ago. Did you look for the sherrif thing on the back plate?

yea its up to date - i pulled it directly from the ORC

was the camaro marked in any way? and i didnt look for the little sheriff star because those dont mean anything anymore (all you have to do is donate money to the station and they give you one)...i checked it for government plates and it had regular civilian plates, which is another thing that threw me.

interesting to hear of another unmarked car making a traffic stop....im not sure what the frequency of phony police is, but i would be inclined to believe that the camaro was not a real cop and probably somebody fucking around...i could be wrong, but that would be my gut feeling with that specific car

[magley64]

if someone were to try to pull me over with an unmarked car, i'm just gonna keep cruising until a marked car shows up, or they give up following me.

[SWing'R]

Have you seen the unmarked cars with cameras all over them?

The cameras are angled on all four corners and aimed at car plates in other lanes.

Seine told me in automatically scans plated.

Whadupwitdat?

They have one of those in Hamilton. They park it in different parts

of town everyday. According to some family I have there, this car uses

photo radar and they send you a ticket. But maybe it is a plate scanner

Edited May 19, 2011 by SWing'R

[Ringo]

yea its up to date - i pulled it directly from the ORC

was the camaro marked in any way? and i didnt look for the little sheriff star because those dont mean anything anymore (all you have to do is donate money to the station and they give you one)...i checked it for government plates and it had regular civilian plates, which is another thing that threw me.

interesting to hear of another unmarked car making a traffic stop....im not sure what the frequency of phony police is, but i would be inclined to believe that the camaro was not a real cop and probably somebody fucking around...i could be wrong, but that would be my gut feeling with that specific car

The guy who got out was in full state patrol gear. LOL that is a commited guy if hes fucking around lol. And no it wasnt marked in anway that i could see. Just lights in the front grill that were hidden by it when not on.