As some of you know, I am an Administrator on
www.mustangforums.com. I posted there about being banned from the other SSP forum this past week for privately questioning the decision by the forum staff to scuttle the discussion about (ir)responsible use of old police cars in the eyes of the public. (yes, my account was passive-aggressively stripped of its account settings, i.e. banned)
One of the other Admins on MF asked me what the big deal was about some guy acting out, thinking the worst that could happen is that he'd get a ticket. I thought my response to him really explained why some of us are so concerned about that type of activity, so I wanted to share it here -
Quote:
Originally Posted by 28HopUp
Chris, when I got my SSP, I never gave any thought to the implications of driving an old police car. Not only do I need to be mindful of the cops and other motorists so they do not think that I am an impersonator, but I also need to be careful of my surroundings. I could easily pull into a gas station or convenience store one evening while it's being robbed, and be mistaken for an off-duty cop. Remember those 3-4 cops who were gunned down at a Seattle area coffee house about 1 1/2 years ago? That store was the same location where the local SSP crew would meet for coffee. Any one of them could have been shot too if they were there that morning.
In terms of this knucklehead, the danger comes from a citizen complaint or an on-duty cop witnessing it. Or worse, had there been a news chopper covering the accident/traffic we all could have seen video of his foolishness. What's the big deal? Well, at least one state (New Hampshire) has apparently outlawed private citizens from putting any kind of emergency lights and/or markings on their cars. The NH legislature passed that law to stop impersonators, but it also killed the police collector car hobby in that state.
Most police departments own the copyrights to their logos, and they could require a permit or license for anyone to use their logo on a restoration. Ohio went so far as to prohibit using their logos on ANYTHING (model cars too).
So this small aspect of the collector car hobby is in a unique position where the actions of outsiders (posers in late-model Crown Vics) or members of the group themselves could destroy the hobby. THAT is why some of these guys get so fired up when somebody misbehaves.
|
The Admin at MF asked a legitimate question because he is not part of the police car collector group. But it should be common sense to those of us who own/restore/operate an out-of-service police car or clone.