2 LEO contacts in September...rough month!

[Keith B]

I find it interesting that there is an entire thread on how to break the law and get away with it on the same site where members routinely point out that CHL holders are more law-abiding than the rest of the world.

There is nothing listed on here about how to break the law or condoning doing anything illegal. I can guarantee everyone speeds now and then, and it is very easy to get caught in a speed trap similar to the OP's situation where you miss a speed sign.

I personally own a good radar detector and use it regularly. I normally don't drive any faster than the rest of the traffic around me. It is there to help remind me to check my speed and the signs if it goes off. Also, you can be picked out of other traffic, even if flowing with traffic that is going faster than the posted limit. the detector allows me the opportunity to slow down enough that they should pick someone ELSE out if they want to target an individual car.

[jsimmons]

I drive a 2004 monochrome Crown Vic (it's a "Sport" model that's dark red with a honeycomb grill and heavily tinted windows). Other than the honeycomb grill and the window tint, the car still looks stock (including the complete absence of radio antenna and the original aluminum sport wheels that came on it). To anyone with any observational ability at all, it doesn't look like a cop car. Most traffic slows to match *my* speed until they figure out I'm not a LEO (all they have to do is take note of the license plate). What's truly amusing is having some idiot come blasting up behind me, and then swerve to pass. When they get about a car length in front, they glance in their mirror and almost turn their car inside out trying to slow down, thinking I'm a cop. I chuckle frequently during my afternoon commute home.

I was in the fast lane the other day, doing 63 in a 60 with the cruise control on. I was about halfway past an 18-wheeler when some idiot came up behind me doing at LEAST 80. Traffic was heavy ad doing the speed limit to the right of the semi, so he couldn't go around that way. He's flashing his lights and beeping his custom euro horn at me, so I slow down (no brake lights, I just eased off the gas) to pull in behind the semi and let him by. Before I was even halfway done making the lane change, he had swerved partially onto the shoulder to go around, and was already doing 80 by the time he was door-to-door with me. He was so busy giving me the evil eye for impeding his journey that he failed to notice the *real* stealth cop car (one of the new Dodge Chargers) I had been following, and yes the LEO lit him up on his way by. I rarely have the opportunity to smile to myself on the way to work.

[C-dub]

He was so busy giving me the evil eye for impeding his journey that he failed to notice the *real* stealth cop car (one of the new Dodge Chargers) I had been following, and yes the LEO lit him up on his way by.

That is quite satisfying, isn't it?

[surprise_i'm_armed]

jsimmons:

If one suspects that a Crown Vic is an unmarked LEO unit, looking at
the non exempt license plates would not necessarily be definitive.

Undercover Crown Vics wear "general issue" Texas license plates, same
as a civilian gets.

I sometimes daydream about getting a surplus LEO Crown Vic and getting
the vanity plates "OHNO-50". :-)

SIA

[kalipsocs]

Well I was tagged with a laser, so radar detector would have been useless. But guess what was the biggest thing taken from my car? Thats right...Passport 8500 Had it since 2001 until then.

[srothstein]

If one suspects that a Crown Vic is an unmarked LEO unit, looking at
the non exempt license plates would not necessarily be definitive.

Undercover Crown Vics wear "general issue" Texas license plates, same
as a civilian gets.

You are correct about the plates, but there is one other area that marks almost every cop car Ford makes. You need to get close to see it, but on the left corner of the rear there is a little plate that identifies the model of the car. Cop cars all get marked as "Police Interceptor" in a rectangular emblem. The non-cop cars get a script plate reading "Crown Victoria LX" or something similar. I have always laughed at having that on an unmarked car. Nothing stops a department from using the civilian cars, but they are not certified for police use or chases and do not have the suspension and brakes beefed up.

[gigag04]

Removing your front plate will not fool a laser. Also...officers are certified to estimate your speed visually and then double check with a measuring device. The radar/laser is more of a formality and helps in court should you decide to fight the charge.

[C-dub]

I don't know about beefed up this or that. I've had two different Dallas officers, that did not know each other, tell me that the only different about their cars than one I can buy is the decals, lights, radios, and computer. Some might be, but Dallas' apparently aren't.

[Fangs]

I'm curious as to where in San Marcos the ticket happened... nowhere immediately comes to mind where the road goes from 45 to 35 as you cross I-35 for me.

I'm about 95% certain you'll get the ticket dismissed with some good photos. I personally have a hundred percent success rate here in San Marcos.

[The Annoyed Man]

Have lived in Texas for 3.5 years, and haven't even received a warning yet. The last ticket I had was 10 years ago in the Malibu mountains, from the CHP. It was Christmas eve, 1999. Avoiding tickets just isn't that hard. My only encounter with a traffic officer in Texas was when reporting a hit and run accident in which my wife was the victim.

[CompVest]

May your luck continue to hold!

[The Annoyed Man]

You are correct about the plates, but there is one other area that marks almost every cop car Ford makes. You need to get close to see it, but on the left corner of the rear there is a little plate that identifies the model of the car. Cop cars all get marked as "Police Interceptor" in a rectangular emblem. The non-cop cars get a script plate reading "Crown Victoria LX" or something similar. I have always laughed at having that on an unmarked car. Nothing stops a department from using the civilian cars, but they are not certified for police use or chases and do not have the suspension and brakes beefed up.

Until a couple of months ago, my son drove a 2003 Crown Vic Police Interceptor (a P71 to the cognoceti). It was all white with black trim across the back, with the "Police Interceptor" in small chromed letters on the left side of the rear panel, below the trunk lid. It had a blacked out grill, and a spotlight on the front left pillar. And the windows were all tinted - from the factory.

The great thing about driving a cop car is that Texans finally remember to use their turn signals.

The cars do indeed have a few advantages over the "civilian" versions:

1. They have a different chip in the engine management system which bumps the power up a bit. Still not huge numbers, but more — noticeably more powerful than my wife's slightly older Crown Vic LX (which we no longer own either).
2. They have better brakes.
3. They have stiffer suspension components, and cornering in a P71 is very different from cornering in a civilian model.
4. They have extra bracing and gussets all over the frame to make it stiffer so that it can support the additional cornering forces. And both the stiffer shocks and the bracing and gussets also help it to better handle being driven off pavement, over rough terrain (railroad tracks, open fields, etc.).
5. They have a higher output alternator, to support all the extra electrical stuff found in modern cop cars (lights, computers, radios, etc.).

I actually thought it made a great car for a teenaged boy to drive. Enough juice to be "entertaining", but a very safe car to drive. He never got a single ticket in it. One time we were driving past a high school near our house, two very pretty, tall, athletic, blond, high school girls wearing nothing but volleyball shorts and jerseys who were walking ahead of us turned to face his car and waved flirtatiously at us. I doubt if they could see us through the tinted glass, but my (then) 18 year old son turned to me with a grin and said, "Dad, I love this car!" I always got a chuckle out of that.

In July, he traded it in on a used 2009 Pontiac G8 GT. Now that is a pretty neat car.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Visually you can usually tell a police version Crown Vic by:
1. Black grille
2. Black between the tail lights and license plate area.

Civilian Crown Vics have:
1. Chrome grille
2. Body color between the tail lights and the license plate area.

We were talking about CVPI's (Crown Vic Police Interceptors) on another thread,
and someone said that the cops can order their package, but with a "Street Appearance"
option that gives their undercover cars chrome grilles and body color between the tail lights
and the license plate area, just like civilan CV's.

SIA

[jsimmons]

You are correct about the plates, but there is one other area that marks almost every cop car Ford makes. You need to get close to see it, but on the left corner of the rear there is a little plate that identifies the model of the car. Cop cars all get marked as "Police Interceptor" in a rectangular emblem. The non-cop cars get a script plate reading "Crown Victoria LX" or something similar. I have always laughed at having that on an unmarked car. Nothing stops a department from using the civilian cars, but they are not certified for police use or chases and do not have the suspension and brakes beefed up.

Until a couple of months ago, my son drove a 2003 Crown Vic Police Interceptor (a P71 to the cognoceti). It was all white with black trim across the back, with the "Police Interceptor" in small chromed letters on the left side of the rear panel, below the trunk lid. It had a blacked out grill, and a spotlight on the front left pillar. And the windows were all tinted - from the factory.

The great thing about driving a cop car is that Texans finally remember to use their turn signals.

The cars do indeed have a few advantages over the "civilian" versions:

1. They have a different chip in the engine management system which bumps the power up a bit. Still not huge numbers, but more — noticeably more powerful than my wife's slightly older Crown Vic LX (which we no longer own either).
2. They have better brakes.
3. They have stiffer suspension components, and cornering in a P71 is very different from cornering in a civilian model.
4. They have extra bracing and gussets all over the frame to make it stiffer so that it can support the additional cornering forces. And both the stiffer shocks and the bracing and gussets also help it to better handle being driven off pavement, over rough terrain (railroad tracks, open fields, etc.).
5. They have a higher output alternator, to support all the extra electrical stuff found in modern cop cars (lights, computers, radios, etc.).

I actually thought it made a great car for a teenaged boy to drive. Enough juice to be "entertaining", but a very safe car to drive. He never got a single ticket in it. One time we were driving past a high school near our house, two very pretty, tall, athletic, blond, high school girls wearing nothing but volleyball shorts and jerseys who were walking ahead of us turned to face his car and waved flirtatiously at us. I doubt if they could see us through the tinted glass, but my (then) 18 year old son turned to me with a grin and said, "Dad, I love this car!" I always got a chuckle out of that.

In July, he traded it in on a used 2009 Pontiac G8 GT. Now that is a pretty neat car.

The P71 also has a transmission cooler that the civilian cars don't have. I had a chance to buy a brand new P71 when I got my car, but I wanted the bucket seats, floor mounted shifter, and leather interior. More importantly, I didn't really want a car that looked too much like a cop car. It only cost me $25k. (The P71 would have been $23k.) I think they still make Crown Vics, but you can now only get them via fleet sales.

[jsimmons]

Visually you can usually tell a police version Crown Vic by:
1. Black grille
2. Black between the tail lights and license plate area.

Civilian Crown Vics have:
1. Chrome grille
2. Body color between the tail lights and the license plate area.

We were talking about CVPI's (Crown Vic Police Interceptors) on another thread,
and someone said that the cops can order their package, but with a "Street Appearance"
option that gives their undercover cars chrome grilles and body color between the tail lights
and the license plate area, just like civilan CV's.

SIA

I've seen unmarked CVs (and even some stealth cars) with grills that are body color (like the CV Sport), not all of the cars have the steel wheel with chrome dog dish hubcaps. Some have the full wheel covers. I've also seen a few stealth cars that either didn't have the "Interceptor" badge or the black rear panel. However, I've never seen a city or county police unit that didn't have exempt plates (in San Antonio or Bexar County)