The Unmarked Police Vehicle
 If
you are on the ball an unmarked police car will stand out like
a sore thumb, if you are not then here are some things to look
out for, (however an e-mail from a Traffic officer pointed out
to me that most drivers can't even see a fully liveried up Police
Car if it jumped out in front of them, so if you are one of
those drivers you got no chance !)
Police Cars
- No hubcaps.
To reduce the risk of third-party damage during high speed
pursuits. Mainly CID cars, most of the pursuit cars now have
alloy wheels.
-
Odd lumps. The video
camera if used is usually suspended under the inside rear-view
mirror, and sometime also in the rear of the car by the side
pillar.
-
Two people. Most unmarked
cars seem to be staffed by pairs of policemen and women. In
today's environment of single-occupant cars, this can be quite
noticeable. They also have to be in uniform, and quite often
wear fluorescent clothing.
-
Extra lights on the tailgate, behind the radiator or on the
parcel shelf.
-
Two rear-view mirrors. They often have a second inside rear-view mirror for the second
officer.
-
A large illuminated sign in the rear window, sometimes with
lights at each end. This is the not quite the width of the parcel shelf and its
about 200mm tall (i.e. a long, flat box). This is used to
pass on messages to drivers like "POLICE STOP", "SLOW DOWN",
"DO NOT PASS" etc...
-
Other
things that stand out. Very clean and well kept, quite often seen sitting at 60mph
in the inside lane looking for it's next target, No dealer
stickers, in fact a total lack of stickers in most cases.
Single whip Aerial on the roof or rear wing. 
-
Tricks
they try. Some have
been known to use hanging objects to hide the video camera,
using the "Boy Racer style of car". Placing stickers on the
cars to try to blend in.
-
Typical vehicles they use. Ford Mondeo 24v, Volvo estates T5, Vectra V6, Citroen AX (Laser
Car, Kent police), Ford Galaxy, Saab 95, Vauxhall Omega V6,
Motorbikes are also being used and these are very hard to
spot, but one give-away is that they stand out as being better
bikers on new clean machines with add ons such as heavy side
panniers to protect the video and radio equipment.
Police Motorbikes
- Wearing a white helmet
- Always wearing full black leathers
- Always a hi-visability belt or waist coat ( normally the belt
with single diagonal across one shoulder front and back ).
therefore if you see a large capacity motorcycle, white helmet,
black jacket and hi-vis belt slow down.
- Dead giveaway from rear is panniers or boxes and three aerials
that look like black felt pens, these bikes are given the very
latest in technology and will have you without stopping you if
they feel inclined to do so, be aware, be very aware!
- If you see the above combination on a new big sports bike he
won't have boxes just a little tail pack
And remember to always smile for you mum on television.
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