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Thread: Arrested for Impersonating a Police Vehicle

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    Default Arrested for Impersonating a Police Vehicle

    A Michigan man was pulled over and arrested after a sheriff grew suspicious of a his vehicle as it resembled a police cruiser.

    I was always under impression that you could have strobes on your car as long as they are not red and blue. Can anyone shed some light on the legality of creating a similar vehicle here in Calgary?

    Article and video: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...sing-as-a-cop/

    WATERFORD, Mich. – Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard had just gotten out of a meeting and was in a suit and tie driving down M-59 near Telegraph Road when he saw what looked like a police SUV.

    “Initially, to me, it looked exactly like a police car. It was a police car, it had the push bumpers, a whole light array on the back. It said ‘police interceptor dial 911’ as well as ‘K-9 stay back,'” Bouchard said.


    When he got closer to the vehicle he noticed a decal on the side that read, “emergency response.”

    “I was like, ‘That’s not a police car. Something weird is going on here,'" he said.

    He ran the license plate number and it didn’t come back to a police agency -- it came back to an individual. Bouchard activated his emergency lights and pulled the vehicle over.

    The windows were so tinted that it was impossible to see who was behind the window. The driver rolled down the window.

    “He looks at me and says, ‘Who are you?’ And I said, ‘I’m the sheriff. Who are you?'" Bouchard said.

    Bouchard said there was a fake radar mounted on the dashboard and what was supposed to look like a computer aided dispatch computer. He also found a loaded .45 glock and a large Bowie knife.

    The driver is currently in custody at the Oakland County Jail and charges are pending.

    “We want to know if anybody had been stopped by this vehicle,” Bouchard said.

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    was that wrong?
    Quote Originally Posted by killramos View Post
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    You realize you are talking to the guy who made his own furniture out of salad bowls right?

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    Quote Originally Posted by ExtraSlow View Post
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    was that wrong?
    Article unfortunately does not state what kind of charges he was brought up on, could very well be nothing vehicle related and just prior warrants.

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    Quote Originally Posted by beyond_ban View Post
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    A Michigan man was pulled over and arrested after a sheriff grew suspicious of a his vehicle as it resembled a police cruiser.

    I was always under impression that you could have strobes on your car as long as they are not red and blue. Can anyone shed some light on the legality of creating a similar vehicle here in Calgary?

    Article and video: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...sing-as-a-cop/
    Please do not compare American laws and systems to ours - they are completely different and VASTLY vary from every state and within each county.

    You can drive around here - if you wanted to - with a car that had the same logos and colours as the CPS. You just cant have blue lights or the word POLICE anywhere. Obviously, pulling people over is a huge no no.

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    Quote Originally Posted by revelations View Post
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    Please do not compare American laws and systems to ours - they are completely different and VASTLY vary from every state and within each county.

    You can drive around here - if you wanted to - with a car that had the same logos and colours as the CPS. You just cant have blue lights or the word POLICE anywhere. Obviously, pulling people over is a huge no no.
    Fair. I guess it just got me wondering how close to an actual cruiser you could get here before you got into trouble. Hard to believe you can legally impersonate an undercover CPS vehicle as long as you don't have the red and blues, as that leaves the door open for someone with motivating factors to utilize that power.

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    aren't we all impersonating undercover police vehicles?

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    Quote Originally Posted by beyond_ban View Post
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    Fair. I guess it just got me wondering how close to an actual cruiser you could get here before you got into trouble. Hard to believe you can legally impersonate an undercover CPS vehicle as long as you don't have the red and blues, as that leaves the door open for someone with motivating factors to utilize that power.
    You can drive around with it all day long.

    Again, the word POLICE (here) is a key factor. If you, say, wear clothes that say POLICE on them in big letters, thats a no no here (but also depends on how you are acting too).
    Last edited by revelations; 04-17-2020 at 02:05 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dirtsniffer View Post
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    aren't we all impersonating undercover police vehicles?
    Haha, sorry should have been clearer. "Unmarked" police vehicles such as the grey/blue/black Explorers and F150's you see everywhere.

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    You never seen the crown vics driving around painted like cop cars Complete with yellow roof lightbar that say security service here in Calgary?

    My guess is buddy is going to win some money from the county on that one.

    Just yesterday I drove by someone in silver springs parked on the side of the road with yellow strobes inside the front and rear window of his red Pontiac vibe. My thought wa overzealous intelcomm driver.
    Originally posted by Thales of Miletus

    If you think I have been trying to present myself as intellectually superior, then you truly are a dimwit.
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    fact.
    Quote Originally Posted by Yolobimmer View Post
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    guessing who I might be, psychologizing me with your non existent degree.

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    Hey Guys,
    ChrisFix, here!



    He made videos along these lines years ago. I can't recall what state he's in but I agree with previous post that the USA is essentially 50 countries that only share a flag.

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    I just went through something kind of similar when I bought an ambulance from a firehall.

    This is addressed by the Alberta Vehicle Equipment Regulation (https://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2009_122.pdf)

    “flashing lamp” includes a stationary or rotating flashinglamp, a strobe lamp or a 360-degree warning lamp but does not include a turn signal lamp or a vehicle hazard warning lamp required under this Regulation;
    Division 4
    Flashing Lamps
    Prohibition

    24(1) A person shall not drive or operate a vehicle that has a flashing lamp unless the flashing lamp is allowed or required under this Regulation or another regulation under the Act.

    (2) A flashing lamp that is allowed or required under this Regulation or another regulation under the Act may remain mounted on the vehicle even if the lamp is off.

    (3) A flashing lamp must be removed from a vehicle that is no longer used in performing the duties for which a flashing lamp is allowed or required under this Regulation or another regulation under the Act.
    It goes on to state the allowed cases where you can have a flashing lamp (of various colors) and it's all police vehicles, fire trucks, funeral procession, tow trucks, trucks carrying explosives and so on. So basically, no, you can't have that on a privately owned vehicle or anything else not specifically allowed under the act. You MIGHT be able to argue that an amber flashing lamp is an auxiliary 'hazard light' to supplement the regular hazard lights, but then it would only be allowed to be on when you should otherwise have your hazards on.

    As for words, having 'police' written on a vehicle would probably be an obvious no-no. Interestingly, when I picked up my ambo they had removed the word 'ambulance' from the back but the sides still said 'emergency services'. And I choose not to comment with regards to whether or not the lights and siren were still functional at the time.
    Last edited by zieg; 04-17-2020 at 02:36 PM.
    dv/dt

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    Quote Originally Posted by zieg View Post
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    snip
    With this in mind, the vehicle in the article would be illegal here too? Although, I assume with a good lawyer you could make up some sort of reason to have the strobes legally in place if it came down to it.

    That makes more sense to me from a police safety standpoint. Allowing strobes on construction vehicles / security / parking patrol is reasonable, but it seems unreasonable to allow citizens to deck out a car to look like an exact replica of an unmarked cruiser.

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    Quote Originally Posted by beyond_ban View Post
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    With this in mind, the vehicle in the article would be illegal here too? Although, I assume with a good lawyer you could make up some sort of reason to have the strobes legally in place if it came down to it.

    That makes more sense to me from a police safety standpoint. Allowing strobes on construction vehicles / security / parking patrol is reasonable, but it seems unreasonable to allow citizens to deck out a car to look like an exact replica of an unmarked cruiser.
    Well, two things strike me. First, you can see in the video it has a spotlight on the driver side, and from the AVER:

    Search light
    41 A person shall not drive or own a motor vehicle that has a lamp that is commonly known as a search light.
    Second, technically, the flashers are strobing really fast. For regular hazard lights, there's a certain speed range that they have to flash at iirc, and those would definitely be outside of that range. Then again, so are most of the amber light bars I've seen?

    Finally, not a lawyer but I can't imagine any judge letting this guy off. Even if you argue the letter of the law, the intent of the dude is pretty clear.
    Last edited by zieg; 04-17-2020 at 02:59 PM.
    dv/dt

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    The dude's SUV looks more like a cop car than the one it was pulled over by

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    Good to know, was debating something for a event...

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    There's a guy who drives around McKenzie lake in a white vehicle (Crown Vic maybe?) you can tell he's really trying hard to look like an undercover cop.
    He got the fake antenna wrong, but otherwise it makes people look twice.

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    Quote Originally Posted by revelations View Post
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    Please do not compare American laws and systems to ours - they are completely different and VASTLY vary from every state and within each county.

    You can drive around here - if you wanted to - with a car that had the same logos and colours as the CPS. You just cant have blue lights or the word POLICE anywhere. Obviously, pulling people over is a huge no no.
    Somewhat true, I have a friend who had a retired police harley. No lights at all, decal said police interceptor as that is the model. He got hassled by police pretty good in Airdrie one day. They asked him a bunch of stuff if he was trying to impersonate a police officer. Guy looks more like impersonating a hells angel than a cop.

    So while you might be right that they couldn't have charged him with anything, they definitely will stop and be hard on you about it.

    Quote Originally Posted by zieg View Post
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    Well, two things strike me. First, you can see in the video it has a spotlight on the driver side, and from the AVER:
    Which I find interesting since all our work / service trucks have spotlights. Granted they're also commercial bucket trucks so maybe that is different or they look the other way.
    Last edited by The Cosworth; 04-18-2020 at 10:24 AM.
    Cos...

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    Only reason someone would drive around in an SUV that looks that much like a cop car is because they are a giant Douche?

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Cosworth View Post
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    Somewhat true, I have a friend who had a retired police harley. No lights at all, decal said police interceptor as that is the model. He got hassled by police pretty good in Airdrie one day. They asked him a bunch of stuff if he was trying to impersonate a police officer. Guy looks more like impersonating a hells angel than a cop.

    So while you might be right that they couldn't have charged him with anything, they definitely will stop and be hard on you about it.
    Usually with cases like this, they get pulled over for speeding first and the motorist proceeds to give lip service to the member - which always results in an unfavourable situation for the motorist.

    Getting hassled or pulled over SOLELY for riding around in a former RCMP bike is pretty rare. Also, the CPS tend to be much more chill in general, than small town RCMP.

    Obviously if they modified the exhaust and are revving the piss out of it, expect similar results.

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    Aren't all motorcycle riders douchebags? Pretty sure they are....
    Quote Originally Posted by killramos View Post
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    You realize you are talking to the guy who made his own furniture out of salad bowls right?

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