4 ms·

Lots of drivers in the U.S. have military seals or decals on their vehicles, often to show support for a particular service branch that they or a relative is as

Lots of drivers in the U.S. have military seals or decals on their vehicles, often to show support for a particular service branch that they or a relative is associated with. I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover/unmarked police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians - they sometimes get waved through perimeters or won't be ticketed/towed if they park in restricted areas. Could this be someone showing support for Chinese police with over-the-top decals? Or was the driver actively pretending to be a Chinese police officer or is a police officer claiming some right to operate outside of China? The article didn't make the circumstances clear, other than the car obviously has the markings and seals. ETA: Just remembered another odd situation/use case for fake police cars - as art or performance props. The UK band/art collective I used to work for, The KLF, featured a 1968 Ford Galaxy police cruiser in many of their videos, with the lights and paint intact but modifications to the seal and motto (using "To Serve and Protect" and the band's Pyramid Blaster logo). You can see a picture of it on the back of some of their 45s (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorin%27_the_Tardis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorin%27_the_Tardis) and I know they drove it around London for the 3 A.M. Eternal video. And in the Boston area there are owners of old Ford LTDs with Boston Police logos from the 1980s and 1990s which are used as movie props (see https://www.universalhub.com/2018/old-boston-police-cruisers-never-die https://www.universalhub.com/2018/old-boston-police-cruisers...).

ceejayoz 7y ago
> They recalled an incident earlier this summer wherein another Asian driver with Chinese markings on his car was arrested following an attempt to pull over an off-duty police officer. That's beyond just having decals.
- Alupis 7y ago
  It's more than that even - there is at least one other identical car driving around doing the same things in the same area too, according to TFA. Plus the one you've referenced - that makes 3 of these driving around harassing people in the US.
- _bxg1 7y ago
  Is this some kind of weird role-playing fantasy? Who in their right mind would expect not to be identified as a fraud, impersonating an officer in the wrong country?
  - peterwwillis 7y ago
    Hanlon's razor
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      Could you be a bit more specific?
      - peterwwillis 7y ago
        An eponymous law, probably named after a Robert J. Hanlon, it is a philosophical razor which suggests a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for human behavior. Inspired by Occam's razor, the aphorism became known in this form and under this name by the Jargon File, a glossary of computer programmer slang. Later that same year, the Jargon File editors noted lack of knowledge about the term's derivation and the existence of a similar epigram by William James. In 1996, the Jargon File entry on Hanlon's Razor noted the existence of a similar quotation in Robert A. Heinlein's novella Logic of Empire (1941), with speculation that Hanlon's Razor might be a corruption of "Heinlein's Razor". In 2001, Quentin Stafford-Fraser published two blog entries citing e-mails from Joseph E. Bigler explaining that the quotation originally came from Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, Pennsylvania, as a submission (credited in print) for a book compilation of various jokes related to Murphy's law published in Arthur Bloch's Murphy's Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980). Subsequently, in 2002, the Jargon File entry noted the same. Earlier attributions to the idea go back to at least the 18th century. A more concise expression of the idea comes from Jane West, in her novel The Loyalists (1812). A similar quote is also misattributed to Napoleon.
        AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        That is both very thorough and totally useless - so much so that it looks like you were deliberately trying to misunderstand. Could you explain how you think Hanlon's Razor has any relevance to brundolf's post?
ryanmercer 7y ago
>I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians Never, ever, ever, ever buy a similar make/model and color car of any common current police car. People will drive SO SLOW in front of you because as soon as they see you in their mirror they think you're an unmarked car. grumbles and is glad a lot of the departments here are switching to SUVs the past couple of years. When I first bought my 2013 Impala (in late '13 when they were the common cruiser here), I'd have people in front of me actually let off the gas and drop 10-15mph when I'd get behind them on the interstate eye twitch. It doesn't help that every department has unmarked vehicles here (and have over the years) including Camaros, Toyota and Ford pickup trucks, Escalades, Corvettes, the same made and model of their rest of the fleet, etc. They'eve even used semis to get tickets over the past several years [1] There is a used car lot by my work that ONLY sells used police cars, they've been there for at least 20 years, and I just don't know why people would go buy them. Most of them still have spotlights on them, the only way I can rationalize people buying them is that they buy them WANTING people to think they are law enforcement. [1] https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/16/indiana-state-police-ghost-truck-issue-tickets-traffic-violations/1744246001/ https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/16/indiana...
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Now you really don’t want to buy a ford compact SUV, especially if it’s black.
  - ryanmercer 7y ago
    Yeah, the town I live in has probably 3/4 of their fleet as these https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124315/Plainfield-Police-SUV-Decal-Set_01.jpg https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124... Most of them in that silver but a handful of black unmarked ones and the rest being marked cars. I actually saw someone pulled over by one of the unmarked ones on the way to work today, they've been having some of them follow behind the school buses to nail people that try to blow by the bus stop signs.
seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Ya, this would never pass for a real police car in China. It’s a black Audi, the official car of choice...it wouldn’t be degraded with any decals at all. Those are the kinds of markings you on a Volkswagen or Hyundai.
cure 7y ago
> The UK band/art collective I used to work for, The KLF Wow, you must have some awesome stories. "That time when we burned a million pounds..."
- ilamont 7y ago
  I left before that but was around when they carried out some of their other unusual publicity/performance activities. https://www.mondo2000.com/2017/08/28/klf-at-the-brit-awards-show-1992-machine-gunning-the-audience-and-a-dead-sheep/ https://www.mondo2000.com/2017/08/28/klf-at-the-brit-awards-...
algaeontoast 7y ago
YouTuber who lives in China actually made a video about the incident - he claims it was likely to intimidate Chinese nationals in a densely Chinese settled area of Irvine CA [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oypp6AeB4pg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oypp6AeB4pg
xxpor 7y ago
>Could this be someone showing support for Chinese police with over-the-top decals? Or was the driver actively pretending to be a Chinese police officer or is a police officer claiming some right to operate outside of China? The article didn't make the circumstances clear, other than the car obviously has the markings and seals. https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-472.html https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-472.html appears to be the law they're charging the person with having broken. >with intent to defraud another Looks like they have to prove intent. If they were just driving around that sounds hard to prove. Especially if their defense is "it just looks cool" or something. I'm not a lawyer, so I wonder if there's some standard of per se intent that I don't know about.
reaperducer 7y ago
I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover/unmarked police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians - they sometimes get waved through perimeters or won't be ticketed/towed if they park in restricted areas. In some states this is actually codified. In New York and New Jersey, if you are a member of the press working in the New York City metro (and verified by the state), you can get license plates with NYP on them for "New York Press." I don't know if Connecticut does it, too.
sofaofthedamned 7y ago
Never thought I'd see the KLF mentioned here, one of the greatest artists of my youth

ceejayoz 7y ago

> They recalled an incident earlier this summer wherein another Asian driver with Chinese markings on his car was arrested following an attempt to pull over an off-duty police officer. That's beyond just having decals.

Alupis 7y ago
It's more than that even - there is at least one other identical car driving around doing the same things in the same area too, according to TFA. Plus the one you've referenced - that makes 3 of these driving around harassing people in the US.
_bxg1 7y ago
Is this some kind of weird role-playing fantasy? Who in their right mind would expect not to be identified as a fraud, impersonating an officer in the wrong country?
- peterwwillis 7y ago
  Hanlon's razor
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    Could you be a bit more specific?
    - peterwwillis 7y ago
      An eponymous law, probably named after a Robert J. Hanlon, it is a philosophical razor which suggests a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for human behavior. Inspired by Occam's razor, the aphorism became known in this form and under this name by the Jargon File, a glossary of computer programmer slang. Later that same year, the Jargon File editors noted lack of knowledge about the term's derivation and the existence of a similar epigram by William James. In 1996, the Jargon File entry on Hanlon's Razor noted the existence of a similar quotation in Robert A. Heinlein's novella Logic of Empire (1941), with speculation that Hanlon's Razor might be a corruption of "Heinlein's Razor". In 2001, Quentin Stafford-Fraser published two blog entries citing e-mails from Joseph E. Bigler explaining that the quotation originally came from Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, Pennsylvania, as a submission (credited in print) for a book compilation of various jokes related to Murphy's law published in Arthur Bloch's Murphy's Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980). Subsequently, in 2002, the Jargon File entry noted the same. Earlier attributions to the idea go back to at least the 18th century. A more concise expression of the idea comes from Jane West, in her novel The Loyalists (1812). A similar quote is also misattributed to Napoleon.
      - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        That is both very thorough and totally useless - so much so that it looks like you were deliberately trying to misunderstand. Could you explain how you think Hanlon's Razor has any relevance to brundolf's post?

ryanmercer 7y ago

>I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians Never, ever, ever, ever buy a similar make/model and color car of any common current police car. People will drive SO SLOW in front of you because as soon as they see you in their mirror they think you're an unmarked car. grumbles and is glad a lot of the departments here are switching to SUVs the past couple of years. When I first bought my 2013 Impala (in late '13 when they were the common cruiser here), I'd have people in front of me actually let off the gas and drop 10-15mph when I'd get behind them on the interstate eye twitch. It doesn't help that every department has unmarked vehicles here (and have over the years) including Camaros, Toyota and Ford pickup trucks, Escalades, Corvettes, the same made and model of their rest of the fleet, etc. They'eve even used semis to get tickets over the past several years [1] There is a used car lot by my work that ONLY sells used police cars, they've been there for at least 20 years, and I just don't know why people would go buy them. Most of them still have spotlights on them, the only way I can rationalize people buying them is that they buy them WANTING people to think they are law enforcement. [1] https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/16/indiana-state-police-ghost-truck-issue-tickets-traffic-violations/1744246001/ https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/07/16/indiana...

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Now you really don’t want to buy a ford compact SUV, especially if it’s black.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  Yeah, the town I live in has probably 3/4 of their fleet as these https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124315/Plainfield-Police-SUV-Decal-Set_01.jpg https://cdn1.tkographix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/30124... Most of them in that silver but a handful of black unmarked ones and the rest being marked cars. I actually saw someone pulled over by one of the unmarked ones on the way to work today, they've been having some of them follow behind the school buses to nail people that try to blow by the bus stop signs.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Ya, this would never pass for a real police car in China. It’s a black Audi, the official car of choice...it wouldn’t be degraded with any decals at all. Those are the kinds of markings you on a Volkswagen or Hyundai.

cure 7y ago

> The UK band/art collective I used to work for, The KLF Wow, you must have some awesome stories. "That time when we burned a million pounds..."

ilamont 7y ago
I left before that but was around when they carried out some of their other unusual publicity/performance activities. https://www.mondo2000.com/2017/08/28/klf-at-the-brit-awards-show-1992-machine-gunning-the-audience-and-a-dead-sheep/ https://www.mondo2000.com/2017/08/28/klf-at-the-brit-awards-...

algaeontoast 7y ago

YouTuber who lives in China actually made a video about the incident - he claims it was likely to intimidate Chinese nationals in a densely Chinese settled area of Irvine CA [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oypp6AeB4pg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oypp6AeB4pg

xxpor 7y ago

>Could this be someone showing support for Chinese police with over-the-top decals? Or was the driver actively pretending to be a Chinese police officer or is a police officer claiming some right to operate outside of China? The article didn't make the circumstances clear, other than the car obviously has the markings and seals. https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-472.html https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-472.html appears to be the law they're charging the person with having broken. >with intent to defraud another Looks like they have to prove intent. If they were just driving around that sounds hard to prove. Especially if their defense is "it just looks cool" or something. I'm not a lawyer, so I wonder if there's some standard of per se intent that I don't know about.

reaperducer 7y ago

I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that look like undercover/unmarked police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians - they sometimes get waved through perimeters or won't be ticketed/towed if they park in restricted areas. In some states this is actually codified. In New York and New Jersey, if you are a member of the press working in the New York City metro (and verified by the state), you can get license plates with NYP on them for "New York Press." I don't know if Connecticut does it, too.

sofaofthedamned 7y ago

Never thought I'd see the KLF mentioned here, one of the greatest artists of my youth