Tips for spotting an unmarked cop car on North American roads

[NeighborhoodThreat]

No license plate generally means the feds. Most federal vehicles can easily be seen because they're all supposed to have one of these license plates:

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Do any of yall ever see the completely blacked out, brand new Tahoes with no license plate?

Pretty sure those are feds.

I saw three of them rolling up on some unlucky bastard in the projects in the LES yesterday...

I know, at least in NYC.. the cops have been mixing it up. It's not just unmarked crown vics or impalas anymore than you can easily pick out a mile away... I've seen just regular NYPD coming up on people to bust them getting out of Toyota camrys and shit...

 

[jeebis]

here in upstate ny ive personally been stopped by both a honda civic and a subaru.

they come in every make around here, but typically stick to the usual american cars. the only telltale sign of an unmarked that ive noticed is the lights in the front grill or a lightbar on the windshield. everyone has them

 

['medicine cabinet']

everything.

on that dea show they were rolling around in a tinted range rover...that being the feds and all..

here in balti, state troopers are super easy to spot unmarkered because you can see the hidden lights behind the grill. you get good at IDing crown vic lights when you are a paranoid drug user like most of us here id imagine...little chevy cars, cant remember the make, but just a little 4 door economy car. one thing i do know, is at the rite aid on MLK and mulburrey thats where they park a ton of undercover cars, there is a seperate side parking lot you can see when turning on north ave and its full of impalas, crown vics with no spot lights, minivans, pickup trucks ect...i sat at the light once and watched a narcotics officer putting his gear from a radio car into a minivan.

when my old dealer and i got busted they showed up in a mini van and a pick up truck as well as regular officers in radio cars, all jumping out cowboy style yelling and screaming guns drawn...point is, they could be in anything! so make sure your lights, tags registration ect is good to go, most stops are for brake lights being out, or even the rediculous license plate light lol

 

[MemphisX3]

I saw three of them rolling up on some unlucky bastard in the projects in the LES yesterday...

I know, at least in NYC.. the cops have been mixing it up. It's not just unmarked crown vics or impalas anymore than you can easily pick out a mile away... I've seen just regular NYPD coming up on people to bust them getting out of Toyota camrys and shit...

thats how it is here. its extremely difficult to spot an undercover around here for the simple fact that, as i stated in my above post, they take ANY car they have seized and turn it into an uncercover. i have seen tahoes, aztecs, accords, audis, just about every make i have seen around here.


the best you can do is look out for the blacked out windows and usually their lights are dead give away because they will have them in the rear window and the brake/head lights.

 

[Boostorbust]

In my neck of the woods they are getting very tricky to spot at times.. I watched a completely ordinary looking ford Edge fly by me and light up a car that passed me. I passed The cop sitting on the side of the road about a mile back and there were no tell tale signs it was a cop. The license plate was a regular civilian plate with no state or government markings. I couldn't believe it! It was a city cop was driving it.

 

[quaff]

Crown Vics, and Chargers in PA, from what I've noticed. Sometimes they have the municipal blue and white plates. I try and keep an eye on the cars around the possible unmarked, to see if I need to be concerned. If you're driving it's the usual slow down near bridges and on/off ramps, that's where they sit a lot of the time.

 

[homeydontplaythat]

wow. i am a really paranoid person. nice to find this thread as i am weary of cars on a daily basis. a couple times ive seen cars with plates that simply say US GOVERNMENT. i have no idea what that is about.

 

[brutus]

^ As far as I know, those cars are nothing to worry about. More than likely just some federal worker on the job.

 

[Johnny blue]

Ya that could be anyone. If a LE officer/agent is trying to be incognito I think it's a safe bet that it won't say what they are on their license plate.

 

[chinky]

In Chicago unmarks are usually crown vics and tahoes. Some have green 'M' plates

those tahoes kinda stick out like a sore thumb but maybe im overly paranoid and check every tahoe out..in my city(suburb of maybe 20k) the unmarks are generally in a SUV and eitehr a tahoe or a durango. they have been pretty consistant with them the last maybe 10years and they just always upgrade to the newer version..we have a nickname for them, we call them the "Predators" cause when they light you up at night they light up the sky. they literally cant fut anymore lights to be hidden on a car and they wouldnt generally stickout but they really dont switch up their game so once you see it, you know. they do have a unmarked charger

ive seen cook county sheriffs NARCS pull up in everything my tail car was a camery that pulled away as a crown vic pulled behind me and lit me up 15 seconds later

this

first time i got popped, my dude had told me my lights were out n to fix em that the majority of people he knew who had been stopped were for broken tail lights.

i was a lazy junkie n said fuck it

2 weeks later i got popped for the tail light

is i see anyone on the road with taillight out i will tell them, the same with a headlights or anylight if i noticve it..my old main dealer used toi have a bad wire or fuse cause literally once every couple months his back left taillight would go out and he would pull away and i would call and he would be like "YOUR LIEIN I JUST CHANGED THST MOTHERFUCKER S WEEK AGO" and id laugh

it takes like 2 seconds to change a bulb

and $2.00

everything.

on that dea show they were rolling around in a tinted range rover...that being the feds and all..
lol

the one main guy on the show, who i really hated, the skinny white guy..he drove a newer BMW

 

[Wolfmans_BrothEr]

One big thing around me in NJ is 90% of cruisers marked or unmarked have MG as the first two letters on their license plate. I think it stands for municipal govt

 

[Tommyboy]

I saw an unmarked state trooper SUV pull a car over the other day. I never saw an unmarked state trooper vehicle before so was pretty shocked. Usually they are all about their proper uniform and vehicles on the state parkways, but I guess they are allowed to use unmarked vehicles now. I just did a search and saw they are doing it to crack down on texting while driving, so there ya go.

 

[chinky]

one of my friends was pulled over by an undercover that was a female and she was driving a camaro and wearing a brain urlacher jersey..she got him for speeding but didnt give him a ticket, just told him to keep it under 70 and you generally wont be messed with..70mph is generslly 10-15mph above the speedlimit in illinois, we do have a few 65s i think but not many

 

[Serotonin101]

down here in southern Illinois near st Louis its pretty easy to spot.
green and white plates
crown vics, impalas, fusions, explorers, and mustangs and chargers on the highways for the most part
side spot lights
usually dark color or white
very clean (not covered in dirt, salt, etc)
all other signs were mentioned.

 

[Expansion420]

I'll see MG, Municipal on the plate.
American made cars.
Durangos and Tahoes sketch me out.
I look for top lights, side spotlights, window tints, and the biggest one of all
HEADLIGHTS
the Crown Vic has an obvious shaped headlight and especially at night time it is easily detectable.

Now ass hole cops that sit in darkened forest side streets, well, I rely heavily on the courtesy of passer-bys flashing their brights at me. Happened today and saved me from going 55 in a 40. Passed the motherfucker chillin in complete darkness.

If it seems sketchy, it could be, so be cool

 

[chinky]

what i love a bout knowing all the places they have speed traps is i can watch the brakes of the peoples in front of me before i can see if the cop is there myself..i also know what lane to be in just in case..i will say ive seen the troopers on the highway shooting radar from the median of the slow lane, shooting backwards for speeders..

blew my mind, i never seen that before ever and i saw it or the first time like a week or 2 ago

 

[homeydontplaythat]

another thing to look for is antennas. the car is always clean as a whistle(no salt or snow) and sometimes there is a tint.

like another poster said, if a car is pulled over on the side of a busy road with no hazards on...its a cop. people dont just fucking pull over on major roads like that because the police will light them up! so who else do you think it is in there just chillin?

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

what i love a bout knowing all the places they have speed traps is i can watch the brakes of the peoples in front of me before i can see if the cop is there myself..i also know what lane to be in just in case..i will say ive seen the troopers on the highway shooting radar from the median of the slow lane, shooting backwards for speeders..

blew my mind, i never seen that before ever and i saw it or the first time like a week or 2 ago

Fuckers are crafty sometimes.. plotting new ways to ruin our day with a nice ticket.

 

[chinky]

yeah man it was slick, ive been driving for 10years and ive done lots of highway driving and that was the first time ive seen the cop with his door open shootings radar. ive seen them with the radar sticking out of their passenger window shooting banckwards(so i think) without opening the door but this was the first with him hanging like halfway out of his car, door open in damn near the slow lane...

i didnt realize it was a cop at first, i judst realized their door was open so i moved over and as soon as i moved over the car i was following slammed their brakes and i then norivced and just let up on my gas and waited to see if he was coming after me so i could swallow my dope and he didnt and i made it home

even though i would have been pulled over for a speeding ticket, im gettting searched no matter what being on felony probation and thats why im not taking any chances