What do you think of Elon Musk? Have your say | No thanks
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - dimdip
Hello,

some years back a website was well known in the Back Room that listed known unmarked police patrol vehicles by region. Does anyone happen to remember/know what it was/is called and whether it's still going? Thanks.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - BobbyG
Think it was just a thread that was running?

Can I ask why you want it - its handy to know in your region but in reality these cars are changed quite often I believe as well as the use of manufacturer demos for trials.

In Strathclyde there are a few 5 series BMWs, but if you are observant enough to memorise the number plates then hopefully will be observant enough to drive correctly!

I believe Strathclyde also trialling Mazda 6 and a Focus RS.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - k9dan
Years ago one of the garage managers at Strathclyde shouted me over, and pointed to an apparrantly standard Rover 800. Under the bonnet was a BMW engine, no Vin numbers. Was a test vehicle and went to the crusher 6 months later. It was well liked with the decent engine below the hood.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - jc2
Usually a legal requirement;most manufacturers will run development/prototype vehicles with peculiar specifications and,because they will not have paid Car tax/VAT on them,HMRC will require them to be scrapped and proof thereof.I can remember driving an ex-police unmarked car-no external markings-just a different calibrated speedo but the registration was obviously known the local constabulary as I was regularly flashed or waved to.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - Armstrong Sid
I've always thought that if you are alert to what is happening on the road around you , then you can usually spot these things.

Main points I always look for are 1) several aerials on the roof. 2) no garage/dealer sticker in the back window. 3)usually been de-badged down to the basics. 4) the thing in the back window which lights up to say "Police stop". 5) concealed blue lights behind the grille

If you don't notice any of those you shouldn't be on the road
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - midlifecrisis
Our unmarked cars:

1. Nope
2. Got those
3. Nope
4. Sign folds down
5. Got those but not obvious.

The important point is that a significant number of people don't see a fully marked up Police car, let alone an unmarked one.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - Pugugly
Local Constabulary run Skoda Octavia VRSs - saw one yesterday - stood out because of its cleanliness more than anything.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - smokie
I was waiting outside a shop in Victoria Street London recently (I do a lot of that, not usually in London though!!) watching 2 PCSOs talking to a guy for some time. Two scruffy tourist types shambled up, complete with worn rucksacks (none of which were new looking) and eventually one pulled the cuffs from the rucksack and arrested the guy.

Things aren't always what they seem!! Made me think that the proportion of plain clothes police (and vehicles) is probably a lot higher than we realise.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - Jack111
Saw two silver metallic 5series at locations 300miles apart this weekend.

I doubt you could spot them in advance but if you see one of these with a front passenger
then be careful.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - Dave_TD
I've found the giveaway to be the manner of driving - if you see a black 5 series being driven like a liveried V70 (60mph, leaving sensible gaps) it's a good indicator.

Also police cars tend to be cleaner, if not spotless then at least they don't bear weeks'-worth of ingrained grime as many cars do, especially during the winter months.

Finally police cars mostly appear to be registered locally rather than local to the manufacturers' or importers' head offices. For example a lot of Focus STs come with Essex plates, but police Focus STs invariably bear their local reg (Birmingham and Leicester spring to mind). At least the police don't seem to have fleets of consecutively-registered cars these days - North Beds in 2000 springs to mind, with identical Astras from V478XXX to V490XXX inclusive, all white and liveried apart from V484 which was painted in plain blue...

I'm not perfect at spotting unmarked cars myself though, as my licence bears witness ;-)

Edited by Dave_TD {P} on 10/11/2009 at 10:23

Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - Zub
If there is a car behind me, i usually look out for signs of two rear view mirrors. You can easily see this in the day time and at night if there is someone behind the suspect car their headlights usually betray this too.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - FotheringtonThomas
Can I ask why you want it


Mee too. Some puzzlement about this - of what use is the knowledge?
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - dimdip
>> Can I ask why you want it
Mee too. Some puzzlement about this - of what use is the knowledge?

Nothing too sinister. On another site, someone described how they had been tailgated by a car that turned out to be unmarked police. That naturally progressed to people listing the unmarked vehicles they had seen recently (much as we have here). It just reminded me of that site and made me wonder if it was still going.

Thanks for the other replies too btw; it's interesting reading
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - FotheringtonThomas
OK - so, were you to be "tailgated", you could look up the number plate to see whether it might've been a policeman? It seems that the information would only be of use in such limited circumstances, else the burden of knowing all the reg. nos. and cross-referencing them with any vehicles on the road would be impossible for people.
Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - dimdip
I suppose it would be of use just to know the types of cars that local police are using, rather than memorising indices. To pre-empt the destination of this subthread: /most/ people exceed the limits at some times where they feel it is safe, and they might want to know what cars to look out for.

Edited by dimdip on 10/11/2009 at 14:12

Unmarked patrol car I.D. website ? - ifithelps
While trundling along the A690 dual carriageway towards Durham City today I spotted a silver BMW parked in one of the slip roads.

The location concerned is more a glorified T-junction, and joining the main road can be hazardous even without some idiot parked in what little slip road there is.

''Damn fool," I thought, but moderated my speed a little as I passed.

The taxi in the outside lane failed to do the same, but I bet he wished he had now.

BMW shoots past me half-a-mile later and blue lights appear from behind the various panes of glass to pull over the taxi driver.

I expect the BMW was only parked dangerously for a short time, but someone should tell the clown behind the wheel that dangerous parking is dangerous parking, no matter what you are driving, or who you work for.

And I would be grateful if someone could tell me the point of stopping the taxi driver for doing about 55/58mph in a 50mph.

The copper caused more of a hazard barrelling past me and cutting in to execute the tug than the taxi driver did speeding.