On my drive home froma freinds place around 12am here in Maryland, I am minding mine own business when I notice a older Buick Regal following me for a bit. Of course right away with the worry of theft and owning an R I pay close attention. Continue in my direction but take a few turns that make no sense in any normal driving conditions, Buick follows........

To make a long story shorter....

Start picking up the pace a bit, once I do this the car gets closer and then every light on the car starts to strobe. I am like O great a undercover cop. Officer approaches and with caution asks to see the norm. After that I ask why I was pulled over after telling him that I thought I was being followed(which I was), he tells me he noticed this was an "Integra Type R" and that it is the hottest Item on the theft market right now( as I or everyone does not know that). He continues to say that he pulled me over to make sure the car was not stolen.

After he verifies the car is mine he asked me to step outside the car and wanted me to pop the hood and show him vins on the motor and other spots on the car(which i had no problem). After that he became very freindly and wanted me to inform him things such as does the "C5" come with the car, and how do u know if it is a JDM Motor. Asked other car related things to help him in his investigations and theft recover. He was specific Car Theft Team.

I just Find this to be very good. It is good to now that Police are looking for the correct cars and willing to learn what comes and does not come with such cars. It was good to see the interest that the officer showed and I was very happy to help. Hopfully one day when a R is stolen this can happen and Save one of the Few R's that will be left!

 

I'm a good personal friend of an investigator here in FL that is the head of the same sort of car-theft team. We sat down with him and a few of his partners and basically educated them on the honda-scene as he said they get a minimum of 1 Honda reported stoled per day in the county. We work with him now to take down plate numbers of suspicious people who we think have stolen parts. They've busted quite a few. It's a shame more police aren't getting involved. Some are better than none, though.

 

i hope they do that in SoCal... except for the popping hood part..

 

Wow that is pretty cool except I would probably get penalized

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeR 599 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i hope they do that in SoCal... except for the popping hood part.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i totally agree

 

that is cool with what the cops are doing.

 

Wow! I'm glad that police in Maryland are getting more aggressive on taking down car thieves.

 

so I guess there is some hope....

-Victor

 

wow i wished we had smart pigs in bC

 

Well I just hope that some thieves read this and start to get nervous and back off.

Glad you did not have anything that the cop did not like

to cops that want to learn and help

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bbasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Glad you did not have anything that the cop did not like
</TD></TR></TABLE>

He said he was wondering a little when he saw that all the rear interrior was missing......

 

Wow...that's a civil rights violation waiting to happen. You can't pull people over for no reason even if they drive a car that is a high theft target even if some owners want routine stops like the one you described. He might get away with this citing a sketchy cause since you had your rear removed but other than that...that's pretty much illegal. Moreover, the most questionable part is about him checking your motor and vin numbers under the hood.

Once you checked out, he had no further probable cause, or even possible cause, to pursue a search. The fact that you authorized him to look means that there is no real problem (analogous to a drugie authorizing a search of his car after being pulled over). However, if you were to refuse that action, he would have no right to coerce you to show him anything.

Good intention, nevertheless, but very, very shaky.

 

That's good to hear. Unfortunitely where I live, cops are only out to make your life more difficult. I really used to believe that they helped more than they hurt, but recent events have made me change my mind.

 

did you ask to see some proper ID?

 

Good to hear there is some law enforcement out there trying to deal with this ever increasing problem. I'm very close to being selected by the NJ State Police. Hopefully, if things work out I can work on preventing car theft.

 

Agreed, But in NorCal instead.

 

Good thing you have good patience, cus if i C someone following me (most likely cus they C the HKS exhaust, or My TRD/BBS/Volk rims) I will Drop 2nd rite away. They are Probably looking to steal them or find out where i live, I JAMMM. They can't keep up with us.

 

Did the undercover cop show your his badge and provide his identity?

How do you know for sure that he was a cop, other than strobe lights?

He could've been impersonating a police officer to get a look at your car and your info.

Sorry, I'm paranoid.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cosworth &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did the undercover cop show your his badge and provide his identity?

How do you know for sure that he was a cop, other than strobe lights?

He could've been impersonating a police officer to get a look at your car and your info.

Sorry, I'm paranoid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's exactly what I was thinking when I was reading this thread. The "cop" could very well be an undercover thief. I guess I am paranoid too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NA gs-R 05 C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that is cool with what the cops are doing. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hell yeah!! it is nice to know that they are taking the time now to combat the high theft rate of imports, the R in particular....

 

I guess you've never heard of a guy named John Ashcroft. Civil rights and privacy are tired old notions that existed when Democrats were in power. Ashcroft has asserted and the courts have affirmed that the police can pull you over and search the car and arrest you for ANY reason they can think of, however small. The courts let stand a soccer mom being ARRESTED and her car searched and impounded for going less than 5 over the speed limit.

Cops have WIDE discretion to do whatever they want, and you can only hope that they are truly wearing the badge to serve and protect. And if they aren't, be polite, do what they ask, and try to stay out of their way.

Mike D.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lustedp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wow...that's a civil rights violation waiting to happen. You can't pull people over for no reason even if they drive a car that is a high theft target even if some owners want routine stops like the one you described. He might get away with this citing a sketchy cause since you had your rear removed but other than that...that's pretty much illegal. Moreover, the most questionable part is about him checking your motor and vin numbers under the hood.

Once you checked out, he had no further probable cause, or even possible cause, to pursue a search. The fact that you authorized him to look means that there is no real problem (analogous to a drugie authorizing a search of his car after being pulled over). However, if you were to refuse that action, he would have no right to coerce you to show him anything.

Good intention, nevertheless, but very, very shaky.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lustedp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wow...that's a civil rights violation waiting to happen. You can't pull people over for no reason even if they drive a car that is a high theft target even if some owners want routine stops like the one you described. </TD></TR></TABLE>

He had a reason. The thread creator stated that he started to speed up. I'm assuming this means he was speeding. Since when was speeding not a valid reason to pull someone over? (speeding = logical assumption unless this guy normally drives well under the limit and "picking up the pace" means doing the speed limit, which makes absolutely no sense).

As for the rest, I read it as the officer wanting an education on what to look for. I certainly would allow that to happen.

Was it a thief? that I doubt. Why bother pulling someone over when they could just hang back, not be noticed, and just take the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Smitdog &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

He said he was wondering a little when he saw that all the rear interrior was missing...... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I guess I'll be next to get pulled over then...

As for thievery, if it happens to me I'll remember to ask, but I doubt it'll be an issue. If this was a thief, I'm sure he would've known all the "Does the C5 come on there?" type info, and wouldn't bother asking beyond getting the VIN.

 

Stephen,

That's a great story. I'm glad to see that some police, somewhere, are going above & beyond to help catch thieves.

 

Was this HoCo police, steve? Or were you in another county?

Regardless, I'm glad they're starting to be proactive around here..