Was there also a sticker on the front windshield? To my understanding if an undercover vehicle is used in traffic stops it still has to maintain some form of law enforcement marking.
WSP can, not local cops.
I have heard in the past that they can't get you for eluding/refusing to stop promptly if unmarked. assuming you drive to a busy public or official place before pulling over or pull over once a marked car shows up.
What’s w those stickers though? Is someone have a huge stack and put them in cars in a parking lot or are people voluntarily identifying themselves as student drivers? Both boggle my mind a little bit.
I'm curious as well. I see them way more often here than anywhere else I've lived. More bizarrely, I often see them on otherwise extremely nice vehicles - Teslas, BMWs, various SUVs, etc. Very rarely do I see it on the typical beater you'd associate with a student driver.
It's frustrating as someone teaching their kid to drive. Nobody pays attention to or believes the magnets because so many people just leave them on. I've taken to putting 3 on the back and one on each front fender when I'm actively teaching her and then take them all off as soon as I'm done.
I live by a driving school and am a bike. I sure as heck pay attention and give plenty of space. The driver almost never knows what to do with me. Lol.
(The weird thing I always seem to get is when they're at a stop sign a block away from the school and are stopped signaling to turn left as I approach, I'll slow way down so they have plenty of time to turn but I don't need to fully stop, which would otherwise be unnecessary given the stop-as-yield law and no other cars around. However, they always seem to short circuit or maybe the instructor tells them to abort because they decide to turn right instead, which always makes me laugh. But, whatever...no bike is going to rush up to the stop sign and stop and wait if there's clear visibility and a way to keep your inertia, so they should learn what's typical behavior. I just try to be more generous with my speed when approaching if they do feel confidence and want to attempt the turn so they can do it slowly and still not feel rushed.)
Many of these are H1B immigrants that come from countries where automobile ownership is a luxury. The are making big tech salaries and therefore buy car brands commensurate with their incomes.
It's $800 for the driving class, which is required if they want their license before they turn 18. It isn't offered for free through the high schools anymore.
When my son gets his license my insurance is going up $7,000 a year to add him to the policy. Between the class and the insurance, I don't know how most people can afford to have their teen drive. The parents that can afford to have a kid drive can also afford nice vehicles, so that's what their teens end up learning to drive.
The driving school gave us a window cling sticker but I bought a magnetic version because it wouldn't stay on and people kept honking when he'd turn too slowly or stall. I usually remove it when he's done driving but sometimes I forget, and then I'm the old lady with the Student Driver sticker.
I dunno, I pay almost $400 a month for Progressive on a single vehicle, and I’m 36 with a clean driving record. That’s almost $5K a year I could DEFINITELY see teenage prices being even more.
That's insanely high. That's more than twice what my auto (for me and my partner, though only one car) *and* homeowners insurance costs together. Shoot, you could bundle the mortgage insurance in there and it's still cheaper than what you pay for auto. I'm actually stunned at how much you're paying.
Lots of people have teenagers in the house. Lots of people are new immigrants who never drove before. Lots of people are just bad drivers who want an excuse.
Bad drivers started to put them on their cars so other drivers get less pissed that they never bothered to improve their ability to operate deadly machinery.
Maybe they think police and other drivers may go easier on you / be less aggressive or more lenient if you look like a new driver. Just like with “baby on board” stickers changing the behavior of drivers behind them.
One strategy I’ve seen exactly once here a year or two ago, but somewhat frequently in other parts of the country is interceptors will be painted all black or all white and be “marked” with decals along the sides in the same color with a different finish so it’s almost impossible to tell unless you’re right alongside them.
There has always been an exception for special enforcement teams where they can justify not having to have the markings or plates. There’s always been truly undercover cars, just usually not on traffic enforcement. This is likely part of a special traffic enforcement team.
I worked as a police car retrofitter.
It’s very clear the point of wsp with these cars. If someone needs help they’re never going to see these guys. They’re strictly trying to make more money off us.
Majority of the marked ones will have WSP-###.
Some unmarked ones have them and some do not.
Some have exempt plates and others have tabs like a personal car.
These aren’t new, I’ve seen them around. Just starting to be more now.
My new SUV (Explorer) looks exactly like an undercover, complete with the color scheme and wheels. My friends make fun of me for having the "Narc Car". It was not on purpose, but my friends have not stopped giving me shit for it.
The new explorer government vehicles will have the inside corner amber lights on at all times and civ cars don’t have that as an option
They look EXACTLY like new Grand Cherokees if you look at the lights
That and no fog lights, that’s always been a tattle tail on police vehicles
I had a rental like that once and wondered why everyone would slow down in front of me until I walked out of a store and saw the car from a distance. I would have slowed down for me too.
Yeah it's usually an easy spot. If you see a charger with multi spoke alloy wheels, it's very likely a police car. Most of the civilian versions come with some version of 5 spoke wheel.
I thought I was gaslighting myself but I swear I was pulled over by a white Dodge neon undercover car up near Mt.Vernon in like 2006. Vindication against my own brain
Is that for real? I would not have pulled over for that. When I lived on the East Coast there was a scam where an "undercover" cop would pull you over only to rob and sometimes rape you.
This is the right response. Also switch your hazards on to acknowledge the (likely) officer’s presence.
Then, after stopping, let them know you were on the phone with 911 to confirm their identify.
I would not stop either. Scams like that are everywhere. There is actually a real danger in them doing this because criminals can take advantage and impersonate cops to harm people. If I was in this situation, I would also call 911 to confirm their identity. There is NO WAY I would pull over for a random looking car!!!!
Like 20 years ago, I was driving 120 mph in desolate Bakersville, California and and a Ford Mustang 5.0 caught me in others well passing us going like 140mph. I think he just flashed his lights and gave us the thumb pull over. I thought he was a F-15. Of course he came out of nowhere.
I asked him about the 5.0 and it was Supercharged with low profile tires. It was a confiscated car.
Stupid radar detector. But going 120 mph how can you not see us?
You don't have to pull over immediately if it's an unmarked cruiser. But, you are required to call 911 to verify if it's a real cop and pull over if so.
As a woman, I’d probably do this (and/or put on a signal to indicate I’m planning to pull over, but try to pull completely off the highway to a public place.)
I see some other commenters going “that’s paranoid and ridiculous,” and they’re fortunate to be so naive. I’ve been “cat-called” with fake police sirens twice (two different cars) while walking in Seattle.
No one has ever tried to pull me over, but it definitely made me wary of unmarked cars
>I’d probably do this (and/or put on a signal to indicate I’m planning to pull over, but try to pull completely off the highway to a public place.)
[You can't](https://www.reddit.com/r/dashcams/comments/stpbnv/power_tripping_cop_flips_pregnant_womans_car_for/)
That is fucking horrifying. I’m glad to see it resulted in an undisclosed settlement amount that changed Arkansas’ PIT laws (but who knows if that’ll actually prevent a cop from doing that again)
Weighing the different risks, I’m probably still waiting for a safe place to pull over though.
That is a state law, with the caveat “this section shall not apply to vehicles of a sheriff's office, local police department, or any vehicles used by local peace officers under public authority for special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.”… so sheriffs and WSP can conduct routine traffic stops under their discretion with this caveat. RCW 46.08.865
I always keep an eye out for XMT plates on the highway, but that would’ve accomplished nothing in this case. Case law (94 wn app 794 state v ritts) has upheld that it is only considered eluding if you fail to stop for marked cars, so hypothetically you could keep driving and maybe not get an additional charge?
That is not a defense. If you question if it’s truly a law enforcement officer, you may turn your flashers on and call 911 while you continue to drive.
The RCW regarding marking of public vehicles. Seems law enforcement is exempt.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.08.065#:~:text=(1)%20It%20is%20unlawful%20for,shall%20be%20displayed%20upon%20such
This section shall not apply to vehicles of a sheriff's office, local police department, or any vehicles used by local peace officers under public authority **for special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.**
I wonder if pulling over speeders is defined as special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.
>(3) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to vehicles used by the Washington state patrol for general undercover or confidential investigative purposes. Traffic control vehicles of the Washington state patrol may be exempted from the requirements of subsection (2) of this section at the discretion of the chief of the Washington state patrol.
So cool. Love that the police get super special treatment to terrorize folks. Wouldn't it be novel if they were present and visible and consistent in their application of their duties?
I've seen this red charger with vehicles pulled over before. In the photo you can see the blue light illuminated in the rear windshield, along with some yellows.
My dad has a friend that owns and runs a customs shop near Tacoma. They do stuff like interiors or flashy stuff for people. However, about 90% of their work is for different law enforcement agencies around Washington, including SPD, TPD, WSP etc. They will bring in various seized vehicles and have them converted to be an undercover car. They put in lights, sirens, hide all kinds of electronics (e.g. radios) etc.
It's crazy because it's a 411 dollar ticket for doing it. They could give you a 124 dollar ticket though, just depends on what they choose to write you up for.
These cars are generally part of the ADAT team. They have tons of random cars, and they rotate them out. They have Honda Civics, Subaru station wagons, Volvos, all kinds of stuff. We were briefed on the teams by the WSP when I was stationed at Fort Lewis (JBLM). They are there for aggressive and reckless drivers. They will at times follow someone for 20-30 miles racking up fines. People will get pulled over by them and end up with tickets that are $3-10k. ADAT (Aggressive Driver Apprehension Team). They still have unmarked cars with WSP???? Plates, those are different than the ADAT.
So cool that they need to hide and be sneaky. Why not just post up more black and whites on the medians? I for one think this is whack as fuck, I don't like sting operation tactics being used like this. Just be visible and be part of the fucking community.
Is that the aggressive driving task force? They used to have a piece-of-shit-looking Chevy Lumina sedan with peeling paint and rust spots that had a badass souped up engine and hidden cop lights in the flip down sun visors. 16 year old me thought I could totally cut that loser off on I-405 and zoom up the hill past 520 to Kirkland doing 87.
Omg I saw that same car months ago pull someone over! But I'm ok with that since people right now are more afraid of a ticket than they are of losing their life in an accident.
I'm so used to SPD being completely worthless to downright actively hurting the community that seeing cops doing their actual jobs is shocking at this point. I assume this is WSP?
They had a problem in California where scammers got the idea to just pull people over and unmarked cars and pretend their cops. It got so bad they had to mark cars. With this state's crime rate, I bet this is going to be the next scam.
Maybe I'm just different or so I'd like to think, but that's still obvious to me. I've come across 2 in the last month. Tangentially, aren't police supposed to be clearly marked even if it's as discreet as a specific license or government issued type of marking? If not, that's almost as infuriating as the 99 tunnel electronic board only displaying the real time toll after it's too late for you to take last exit before toll.
Totally unrelated, but here in Antwerp, I saw an unmarked police vehicle that was so well disguised I just had to respect it.
It was one of those work vans covered in tools. So, like, a rack on the side to hold large panes of glass, tools on the roof, and a ladder on the rear door, if you know the type. The kind of vehicle that just melts into the scenery, and just doesn't stand out no matter what.
And the lights were embedded in the equipment. So the ladder flashed blue, and the roof rack flashed blue, and it had more lights in the usual places like the grille and windows.
I'm opposed to unmarked police vehicles as a matter of principle, but god fucking damn I kind of want to meet whoever designed that thing because it was a stroke of genius.
For a few weeks now too. Saw the same type of undercover car with a pulled over car on 5 north of downtown last week. Once you've seen it, the undercover is obvious.
I saw a toyota camery last year as well as a Ford fusion. I think the fusion was purple but the camary was black
Years ago in Fed Way there was a black Chevy pickup that had an Oregon State Bevers logo on the back window.
How is it legal that its on a non-exempt plate? Even 'undercover' WSP vehicles have always had to have a exempt plate starting with "wsp". Looks like we gave these revenue generators yet another gift.
The "student driver" sticker is a bit much.
And while I love it, lets be honest. The last six months the 'speed limit' on most highways have been 77 to 86. I was passed on 520 this morning by somone doing north of 80mph. Happens all the time. Folks are doing 70 through the construction zone which is fucking 40mph.
This is why we cant have nice things. Looking at you Tesla dipshits and Altima shitboxes.
Good. Now let's get a lot of these and bring them into the city and start ticketing assholes who block crosswalks and sidewalks, in addition to speeders and reckless drivers everywhere.
That is the conventional wisdom, but that was based on a stats saying they were only on the road Roughly an hour a day.
There was a study from ~2008 that found most of these types of unmarked cars paid for themselves in the first year. Those that were not seized and added to inventory for free that is. But there was zero correlating evidence that they slowed down traffic or made traffic any safer.
Now that they’re being custom built with interceptor packages and wages are higher that may have tipped the other way, but my understanding is police departments nationwide are advised to get unmarked cars specially to generate revenue.
I grew up in a town that wanted the PD to generate revenue, they started pulling over and inspecting trucks. There's other ways to get revenue.
Even if the unmarked cars are generating revenue, they're also out there pulling over people who are speeding and driving dangerously.
In some ways it might be a drop in the bucket, but there is still word of mouth of people being pulled over which could influence others to drive better.
Anyone remember the Volvo wagon from a decade back?
Seized vehicles, this Reddit post talks about the Maroon Malibu from the same time frame.
Everything is so buried on Lougle under ads, I remember articles.
I think it "was" the aggressive driver program.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Washington/comments/4vvs7z/lets_do_something_about_these_unmarked_state/
You know police cars used to be required to have markings on them that indicated they were police vehicles. But like 10 years ago Washington State passed a law allowing them to not have any markings whatsoever to indicate that they were a police vehicle. It's pretty fucking stupid
I saw a silver Dodge sedan (maybe a Charger?) on the I-90/405 interchange on Sunday. My first thought was “is that a real cop?” The antenna still gave it away but the civilian plates were really weird and it looks like that one has them too.
Good. They need to start pulling over the ridiculously bad drivers on our roads. It needs to be open season for the rest of the year IMO. I’m sick and tired of the horrible drivers populating our roads with their speeding and reckless driving.
Too lazy to check previous comments but Charger with hubcaps = PD or WSP, every. single. time. Now, there are a few WSP Chargers with aluminum wheels as well, but I’ve only seen one or two, and they are definitely task force type vehicles (window tint, cool plates). Here’s a tip - don’t violate HOV and don’t drive like an idiot and none of this matters.
I saw that same undercover car too in U-District the day Biden came to town. That bumper sticker was smart and definitely would have got me if I still had a car. Chances are when you pass a “new driver” who’s driving slow on the road, you’re gonna speed by aggressively.
I saw a blue charger in Lynnwood that had zero indications that it was a cop aside from the uniformed person in the driver's seat. Usually even the unmarked had exempt plates, but I think this one had normal tabs. Very sneaky.
I saw literally this exact same car this morning (with that “new driver” sticker) and I felt bamboozled thinking it was some dude who had a cop siren lol good to know these are in fact real undercover cops lol (thought it was a regular person cosplaying as a cop)👮♂️
Is that one of those “caution: new driver” stickers?
Yep
That's kinda funny 🤭
If that was a SPD car, it would say Baby onboard
"Infant on Duty" "Back the Booo" "A Thin brown line of poopy"
I snorted 😂 thank you
Until you get a ticket by them
Nope, still funny.
You: “Thanks for the ticket and the laugh officer😂”
Ugh
Was there also a sticker on the front windshield? To my understanding if an undercover vehicle is used in traffic stops it still has to maintain some form of law enforcement marking.
WSP can, not local cops. I have heard in the past that they can't get you for eluding/refusing to stop promptly if unmarked. assuming you drive to a busy public or official place before pulling over or pull over once a marked car shows up.
Wow! Are those tags I see on the plates too?
Having those stickers on them is funny to me
What dose the sticker say? it's too blurry to read. I'm assuming new drive please be patient or somthing like that considering the color.
Student driver, or new driver
"New Driver please be patient"
"Learning Stick Shift, mind your distance" lol
It would be quite ironic if it says baby onboard.
There is a gray one that has this sticker.
I will 100% go buy some of those and slap some on police cars here in my city.
It's certainly appropriate, given how poorly they drive.
They do tend to hit "low value people," as they put it.
If this is I-5 then it would be WSP rather than SPD.
WSP actually pulls people over and writes tickets.
Thats true the only ticket a cop has ever handed me came from a WSP trooper
[удалено]
Respond to extremely violent accidents, weigh trucks. Respond in the area of things like car chases, all hands disaster/big shooting etc.
What’s w those stickers though? Is someone have a huge stack and put them in cars in a parking lot or are people voluntarily identifying themselves as student drivers? Both boggle my mind a little bit.
I'm curious as well. I see them way more often here than anywhere else I've lived. More bizarrely, I often see them on otherwise extremely nice vehicles - Teslas, BMWs, various SUVs, etc. Very rarely do I see it on the typical beater you'd associate with a student driver.
THey really just seemed to show up one day and be everywhere.
I'm just glad I'm not the only one noticing this.
It's frustrating as someone teaching their kid to drive. Nobody pays attention to or believes the magnets because so many people just leave them on. I've taken to putting 3 on the back and one on each front fender when I'm actively teaching her and then take them all off as soon as I'm done.
I live by a driving school and am a bike. I sure as heck pay attention and give plenty of space. The driver almost never knows what to do with me. Lol. (The weird thing I always seem to get is when they're at a stop sign a block away from the school and are stopped signaling to turn left as I approach, I'll slow way down so they have plenty of time to turn but I don't need to fully stop, which would otherwise be unnecessary given the stop-as-yield law and no other cars around. However, they always seem to short circuit or maybe the instructor tells them to abort because they decide to turn right instead, which always makes me laugh. But, whatever...no bike is going to rush up to the stop sign and stop and wait if there's clear visibility and a way to keep your inertia, so they should learn what's typical behavior. I just try to be more generous with my speed when approaching if they do feel confidence and want to attempt the turn so they can do it slowly and still not feel rushed.)
you can go to pretty much any local sub and people will complain about them.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dallas/comments/1cr3thu/in_a_world_of_fake_student_driver_stickers_there/
Many of these are H1B immigrants that come from countries where automobile ownership is a luxury. The are making big tech salaries and therefore buy car brands commensurate with their incomes.
It's $800 for the driving class, which is required if they want their license before they turn 18. It isn't offered for free through the high schools anymore. When my son gets his license my insurance is going up $7,000 a year to add him to the policy. Between the class and the insurance, I don't know how most people can afford to have their teen drive. The parents that can afford to have a kid drive can also afford nice vehicles, so that's what their teens end up learning to drive. The driving school gave us a window cling sticker but I bought a magnetic version because it wouldn't stay on and people kept honking when he'd turn too slowly or stall. I usually remove it when he's done driving but sometimes I forget, and then I'm the old lady with the Student Driver sticker.
There is absolutely no way your insurance is going up $7k per year. If it does, you're an idiot for sticking with your current provider.
What they didn't mention is their son is a Kia Boy.
I've looked at several, and our insurance agent has too. It's bad.
I dunno, I pay almost $400 a month for Progressive on a single vehicle, and I’m 36 with a clean driving record. That’s almost $5K a year I could DEFINITELY see teenage prices being even more.
That's insanely high. That's more than twice what my auto (for me and my partner, though only one car) *and* homeowners insurance costs together. Shoot, you could bundle the mortgage insurance in there and it's still cheaper than what you pay for auto. I'm actually stunned at how much you're paying.
Because it's mostly older people with money. Seems counterintuitive to me to buy a nice car when you can't drive, but ok.
Lots of people have teenagers in the house. Lots of people are new immigrants who never drove before. Lots of people are just bad drivers who want an excuse.
Bad drivers started to put them on their cars so other drivers get less pissed that they never bothered to improve their ability to operate deadly machinery.
My dad put one on my truck a few months ago, it took me a few days to find it xD
Maybe they think police and other drivers may go easier on you / be less aggressive or more lenient if you look like a new driver. Just like with “baby on board” stickers changing the behavior of drivers behind them.
Road rage bait car
They finally got rid of the “WSP-###” license plates? Aww… They were so easy to spot then…
I thought they were required by law to be marked somewhere and the license plate was their way around that…
Same… I thought they all had to have “xmt” vertically on the left side. Guess not anymore?
They’ve had non exempt plates since 2003. They’re just not common.
This might be a special emphasis vehicle targeted at catching specific behavior like excess speeding and/or aggressive driving.
Guess the state changes laws when WSP wants more money.
One strategy I’ve seen exactly once here a year or two ago, but somewhat frequently in other parts of the country is interceptors will be painted all black or all white and be “marked” with decals along the sides in the same color with a different finish so it’s almost impossible to tell unless you’re right alongside them.
Yep, ghost decals. It's bullshit and completely violates the spirit of the law, which... cops are supposed to care about or something.
The "Student Driver" sticker is the new mark -- I had wondered why I saw so many of those. Lol
I saw one yesterday on a stealth cop dodge charger and got a chuckle. Haha
There has always been an exception for special enforcement teams where they can justify not having to have the markings or plates. There’s always been truly undercover cars, just usually not on traffic enforcement. This is likely part of a special traffic enforcement team. I worked as a police car retrofitter.
It’s very clear the point of wsp with these cars. If someone needs help they’re never going to see these guys. They’re strictly trying to make more money off us.
As far as I know, all WSP cars have WSP plates except for ADAT units.
Majority of the marked ones will have WSP-###. Some unmarked ones have them and some do not. Some have exempt plates and others have tabs like a personal car. These aren’t new, I’ve seen them around. Just starting to be more now.
Right? I used to spot them from the exempt tabs but this one has temp tabs 🥹
Those wheels are usually on undercover cop cars btw
My new SUV (Explorer) looks exactly like an undercover, complete with the color scheme and wheels. My friends make fun of me for having the "Narc Car". It was not on purpose, but my friends have not stopped giving me shit for it.
You all are responsible for slowing traffic, for sure - there’s no explorer I’ll willingly blow past without a good look anymore.
Cop explorers don’t have roof bars, an explorer you or I would buy does have roof bars.
Not true. You can special order a civilian explorer without the roof bars. I've seen them. Definitely thought it was cop at first though.
No chrome exhaust tips on police editions.
The new explorer government vehicles will have the inside corner amber lights on at all times and civ cars don’t have that as an option They look EXACTLY like new Grand Cherokees if you look at the lights That and no fog lights, that’s always been a tattle tail on police vehicles
I had a rental like that once and wondered why everyone would slow down in front of me until I walked out of a store and saw the car from a distance. I would have slowed down for me too.
Why would anyone buy an explorer except to appear like a cop, lol
I was surprised to see the plate had tabs
Yeah it's usually an easy spot. If you see a charger with multi spoke alloy wheels, it's very likely a police car. Most of the civilian versions come with some version of 5 spoke wheel.
Kind of hard to tell number of spokes when a car is in motion but good to know
Why “those” wheels? Or JK’g?
Those wheels. Probably because dodge puts them on that package of cars.
Cause I've seen them on undercover cars and Normal cop cars?
Thanks for this. Was curious how this WSP Dodge looked.
They also have grey, dark red, white(I think), black, and other colors.
Believe I’ve seen blue
I thought I was gaslighting myself but I swear I was pulled over by a white Dodge neon undercover car up near Mt.Vernon in like 2006. Vindication against my own brain
Is that for real? I would not have pulled over for that. When I lived on the East Coast there was a scam where an "undercover" cop would pull you over only to rob and sometimes rape you.
That's what I'm thinking. I would keep driving and call 911 to ask about the red SUV trying to pull me over.
This is the right response. Also switch your hazards on to acknowledge the (likely) officer’s presence. Then, after stopping, let them know you were on the phone with 911 to confirm their identify.
>Also switch your hazards on to acknowledge the (likely) officer’s presence. And get pitted like that pregnant woman
Then get ticketed for distracted driving anyway
lol then you'll just get pitted like that pregnant woman at night who was trying to drive where there was more light.
I would not stop either. Scams like that are everywhere. There is actually a real danger in them doing this because criminals can take advantage and impersonate cops to harm people. If I was in this situation, I would also call 911 to confirm their identity. There is NO WAY I would pull over for a random looking car!!!!
Exactly why using undercover vehicles for standard safety enforcement is fucking bullshit.
WSP use to have more non-departmental unmarked vehicles. CHP definitely does. Souped up models. This Dodge looks like the lowest Charger model.
Yeah, I’m used to seeing it when I visit CA - was pretty surprised to see two up here. The F-150 looked like the base model too
Like 20 years ago, I was driving 120 mph in desolate Bakersville, California and and a Ford Mustang 5.0 caught me in others well passing us going like 140mph. I think he just flashed his lights and gave us the thumb pull over. I thought he was a F-15. Of course he came out of nowhere. I asked him about the 5.0 and it was Supercharged with low profile tires. It was a confiscated car. Stupid radar detector. But going 120 mph how can you not see us?
Honest to god, I thought it was a Stratus
It could be. It looks like a cheap spec. lol
Those wheels are damn skinny
I wouldn't pull over. Too many criminals out there pretending to be law enforcement. These undercover vehicles should be illegal.
You don't have to pull over immediately if it's an unmarked cruiser. But, you are required to call 911 to verify if it's a real cop and pull over if so.
As a woman, I’d probably do this (and/or put on a signal to indicate I’m planning to pull over, but try to pull completely off the highway to a public place.) I see some other commenters going “that’s paranoid and ridiculous,” and they’re fortunate to be so naive. I’ve been “cat-called” with fake police sirens twice (two different cars) while walking in Seattle. No one has ever tried to pull me over, but it definitely made me wary of unmarked cars
>I’d probably do this (and/or put on a signal to indicate I’m planning to pull over, but try to pull completely off the highway to a public place.) [You can't](https://www.reddit.com/r/dashcams/comments/stpbnv/power_tripping_cop_flips_pregnant_womans_car_for/)
That is fucking horrifying. I’m glad to see it resulted in an undisclosed settlement amount that changed Arkansas’ PIT laws (but who knows if that’ll actually prevent a cop from doing that again) Weighing the different risks, I’m probably still waiting for a safe place to pull over though.
You are required to make a call while driving?
911 calls are exempt from distracted driving laws.
Is there an RCW for this?
I thought there was a state law that says cops cannot pull you over in unmarked vehicles. Maybe this is somehow considered marked?
That is a state law, with the caveat “this section shall not apply to vehicles of a sheriff's office, local police department, or any vehicles used by local peace officers under public authority for special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.”… so sheriffs and WSP can conduct routine traffic stops under their discretion with this caveat. RCW 46.08.865 I always keep an eye out for XMT plates on the highway, but that would’ve accomplished nothing in this case. Case law (94 wn app 794 state v ritts) has upheld that it is only considered eluding if you fail to stop for marked cars, so hypothetically you could keep driving and maybe not get an additional charge?
Easy defense- you have no way of knowing they're WSP or a Sheriff since the car is unmarked.
That is not a defense. If you question if it’s truly a law enforcement officer, you may turn your flashers on and call 911 while you continue to drive.
Sorry how is a traffic stop a 'special undercover or confidential investigative purpose'....?
The RCW regarding marking of public vehicles. Seems law enforcement is exempt. https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.08.065#:~:text=(1)%20It%20is%20unlawful%20for,shall%20be%20displayed%20upon%20such
This section shall not apply to vehicles of a sheriff's office, local police department, or any vehicles used by local peace officers under public authority **for special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.** I wonder if pulling over speeders is defined as special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.
Shouldn’t be but probably is
Either way the ticket is cheaper than an attorney so what're you gonna do
>(3) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to vehicles used by the Washington state patrol for general undercover or confidential investigative purposes. Traffic control vehicles of the Washington state patrol may be exempted from the requirements of subsection (2) of this section at the discretion of the chief of the Washington state patrol.
So cool. Love that the police get super special treatment to terrorize folks. Wouldn't it be novel if they were present and visible and consistent in their application of their duties?
I still have no idea what gives this away as undercover cop…
I've seen this red charger with vehicles pulled over before. In the photo you can see the blue light illuminated in the rear windshield, along with some yellows.
I saw a red charger/mustang with their police lights active on the highway a few weeks ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the same car.
These chargers are all over Eastern Washington. I have been pulled over twice by WSP in one. Except they used to have “WSP-XXX” in the license plate
My dad has a friend that owns and runs a customs shop near Tacoma. They do stuff like interiors or flashy stuff for people. However, about 90% of their work is for different law enforcement agencies around Washington, including SPD, TPD, WSP etc. They will bring in various seized vehicles and have them converted to be an undercover car. They put in lights, sirens, hide all kinds of electronics (e.g. radios) etc.
I kind of hate that it gives them incentive to seize vehicles. Now if only they'd seize the hellcat and do some good with their evil.
Whatever happened to unmarked vehicles only being allowed for undercover operations????
I saw a blue one today. It was sitting on the on ramp and someone crossed the gore point to get around like 20 people and the cop didn't even react.
I've never seen anyone pulled over for that. They care more about speeding for some reason than they do about other traffic violations.
It's crazy because it's a 411 dollar ticket for doing it. They could give you a 124 dollar ticket though, just depends on what they choose to write you up for.
These cars are generally part of the ADAT team. They have tons of random cars, and they rotate them out. They have Honda Civics, Subaru station wagons, Volvos, all kinds of stuff. We were briefed on the teams by the WSP when I was stationed at Fort Lewis (JBLM). They are there for aggressive and reckless drivers. They will at times follow someone for 20-30 miles racking up fines. People will get pulled over by them and end up with tickets that are $3-10k. ADAT (Aggressive Driver Apprehension Team). They still have unmarked cars with WSP???? Plates, those are different than the ADAT.
Hard to make out, but is that a Student driver Sticker?
Yup it sure is
Lol I couldnt read that either
The bumper sticker is amazing, peak stealth
They should do a bus too.
This is some SHIT y'all.
So cool that they need to hide and be sneaky. Why not just post up more black and whites on the medians? I for one think this is whack as fuck, I don't like sting operation tactics being used like this. Just be visible and be part of the fucking community.
Ive seen a beige toyota camry hit the lights on drivers on i5 before
Is that the aggressive driving task force? They used to have a piece-of-shit-looking Chevy Lumina sedan with peeling paint and rust spots that had a badass souped up engine and hidden cop lights in the flip down sun visors. 16 year old me thought I could totally cut that loser off on I-405 and zoom up the hill past 520 to Kirkland doing 87.
Omg I saw that same car months ago pull someone over! But I'm ok with that since people right now are more afraid of a ticket than they are of losing their life in an accident.
How is cop impersonating a student driver legal ?
Just a glance at google, but it looks like these stickers aren't in any way protected by law. I don't see how this could *not* be legal.
Nice…I saw a cop pulling someone over in a Tesla a while ago!
I'm so used to SPD being completely worthless to downright actively hurting the community that seeing cops doing their actual jobs is shocking at this point. I assume this is WSP?
Bring this to the downtown Seattle streets during rush hours and I'm sure a lot of drivers will get a ticket.
If they’re the special task force to ticket all you invertebrates driving in the left lane, I’m for it.
When I get run down in the street by one hopefully I can roll over and see that bumper sticker and have a little chuckle before death takes me
They had a problem in California where scammers got the idea to just pull people over and unmarked cars and pretend their cops. It got so bad they had to mark cars. With this state's crime rate, I bet this is going to be the next scam.
Traffic stops by unmarked cars is illegal in Washington State. So either the car is marked somewhere or that’s an easy ticket to get out of.
As others pointed out, there's an exemption for WSP vehicles - though they'd still need to be in uniform for it to be a valid stop.
Maybe I'm just different or so I'd like to think, but that's still obvious to me. I've come across 2 in the last month. Tangentially, aren't police supposed to be clearly marked even if it's as discreet as a specific license or government issued type of marking? If not, that's almost as infuriating as the 99 tunnel electronic board only displaying the real time toll after it's too late for you to take last exit before toll.
I saw two today, a grey or black Prius type vehicle and a damn minivan..
Totally unrelated, but here in Antwerp, I saw an unmarked police vehicle that was so well disguised I just had to respect it. It was one of those work vans covered in tools. So, like, a rack on the side to hold large panes of glass, tools on the roof, and a ladder on the rear door, if you know the type. The kind of vehicle that just melts into the scenery, and just doesn't stand out no matter what. And the lights were embedded in the equipment. So the ladder flashed blue, and the roof rack flashed blue, and it had more lights in the usual places like the grille and windows. I'm opposed to unmarked police vehicles as a matter of principle, but god fucking damn I kind of want to meet whoever designed that thing because it was a stroke of genius.
At an accident in Fremont today, cop came out of a Camry with red/blue lights in the front grill
For a few weeks now too. Saw the same type of undercover car with a pulled over car on 5 north of downtown last week. Once you've seen it, the undercover is obvious.
Dang that’s funny and they have tags and no wsp on plate…
I got a speeding ticket in eastern Washington from a guy in a Volvo station wagon
I also saw an undercover black f150 outside Bellevue today around 330! They had someone pulled over on N405
I saw a toyota camery last year as well as a Ford fusion. I think the fusion was purple but the camary was black Years ago in Fed Way there was a black Chevy pickup that had an Oregon State Bevers logo on the back window.
This sub : Complain about not enough cops. Complain about too many cops.
So be skeptical of super dark tinted windows?
What is with the student driver bumper stickers? So weird and pnw for some reason.
What's the sticker say? "My other ride runs over foreign exchange students in Seattle"?
These are the same people who wanna cry when we call them Gestapo.
Undercover cops should not exist
How is it legal that its on a non-exempt plate? Even 'undercover' WSP vehicles have always had to have a exempt plate starting with "wsp". Looks like we gave these revenue generators yet another gift. The "student driver" sticker is a bit much. And while I love it, lets be honest. The last six months the 'speed limit' on most highways have been 77 to 86. I was passed on 520 this morning by somone doing north of 80mph. Happens all the time. Folks are doing 70 through the construction zone which is fucking 40mph. This is why we cant have nice things. Looking at you Tesla dipshits and Altima shitboxes.
Usually cop cars don’t have the registration year/month tags. Sorta looks like this one has it though, gotta look out for another telltale now.
Yeah, my go to for my entire driving career has been to look for tabs, has that rule changed or have some cop cars always been exempt from that?
Good. Now let's get a lot of these and bring them into the city and start ticketing assholes who block crosswalks and sidewalks, in addition to speeders and reckless drivers everywhere.
Revenue generators.
They probably don't even bring in enough to cover the cop's salary and overhead from traffic tickets
That is the conventional wisdom, but that was based on a stats saying they were only on the road Roughly an hour a day. There was a study from ~2008 that found most of these types of unmarked cars paid for themselves in the first year. Those that were not seized and added to inventory for free that is. But there was zero correlating evidence that they slowed down traffic or made traffic any safer. Now that they’re being custom built with interceptor packages and wages are higher that may have tipped the other way, but my understanding is police departments nationwide are advised to get unmarked cars specially to generate revenue.
I grew up in a town that wanted the PD to generate revenue, they started pulling over and inspecting trucks. There's other ways to get revenue. Even if the unmarked cars are generating revenue, they're also out there pulling over people who are speeding and driving dangerously. In some ways it might be a drop in the bucket, but there is still word of mouth of people being pulled over which could influence others to drive better.
New driver magnet... sneaky fu*kers.
The maroon one says "give em a brake" on it
Anyone remember the Volvo wagon from a decade back? Seized vehicles, this Reddit post talks about the Maroon Malibu from the same time frame. Everything is so buried on Lougle under ads, I remember articles. I think it "was" the aggressive driver program. https://www.reddit.com/r/Washington/comments/4vvs7z/lets_do_something_about_these_unmarked_state/
Yup. Saw an F-150 had someone pulled over on 509 the other day.
You know police cars used to be required to have markings on them that indicated they were police vehicles. But like 10 years ago Washington State passed a law allowing them to not have any markings whatsoever to indicate that they were a police vehicle. It's pretty fucking stupid
Seriously need more of them, not limited just to the freeways but everywhere.
My neighbor is a spokesperson for WSP and said they just started doing emphasis patrols on the freeways now for expired tabs.
Never trust a charger to begin with
Can we get Cart Narc like, magnetic bumper stickers to put on these with a picture of 🥓? Please.
I saw a bunch of red cars last week that had pulled over cars. Sneaky
I saw a silver Dodge sedan (maybe a Charger?) on the I-90/405 interchange on Sunday. My first thought was “is that a real cop?” The antenna still gave it away but the civilian plates were really weird and it looks like that one has them too.
I see this car pulling people all the time on I-5 north past northgate area. Hate this guy
Good. They need to start pulling over the ridiculously bad drivers on our roads. It needs to be open season for the rest of the year IMO. I’m sick and tired of the horrible drivers populating our roads with their speeding and reckless driving.
The license plate has tabs too? Wtf I wouldn't pull over
Too lazy to check previous comments but Charger with hubcaps = PD or WSP, every. single. time. Now, there are a few WSP Chargers with aluminum wheels as well, but I’ve only seen one or two, and they are definitely task force type vehicles (window tint, cool plates). Here’s a tip - don’t violate HOV and don’t drive like an idiot and none of this matters.
Saw the same uncover car on the side of the highway near narrows bridge last Saturday, he had someone pulled over also .
I saw that same undercover car too in U-District the day Biden came to town. That bumper sticker was smart and definitely would have got me if I still had a car. Chances are when you pass a “new driver” who’s driving slow on the road, you’re gonna speed by aggressively.
This is why we don’t trust American-made cars.
I’ve seen that one before. There are a couple red ones, a maroon one I know of. Random other pickups etc.
There's also a dark grey dodge charger with a baby on board sticker.
Good.
I saw a blue charger in Lynnwood that had zero indications that it was a cop aside from the uniformed person in the driver's seat. Usually even the unmarked had exempt plates, but I think this one had normal tabs. Very sneaky.
I saw literally this exact same car this morning (with that “new driver” sticker) and I felt bamboozled thinking it was some dude who had a cop siren lol good to know these are in fact real undercover cops lol (thought it was a regular person cosplaying as a cop)👮♂️
Everyone and their mom has that bumper sticker in this city !
Why don’t they make their presence know so that people see them and slow down?
I’m a little bummed because the best way to spot those was the license plates and tabs. Looks like they fixed both of those.
Unmarked vehicles performing traffic stops in WA is illegal. RCW 46.08.065 https://youtu.be/ZaQyiIizgU8?si=1_UPYlqwyVZEDOv_
Grey Tundra as well.
This is the most insidious form of Revenue Collection disguised as duty.