I saw a much more accuratedly decorated "General Lee" driving by our apartment the other day. I couldn't believe it. It was quick, but looked enough like the genuine article. This guy's car is too far off. He should, at least, make it worth his while to go through all this trouble. I don't think any reasonable thinking person should have a beef with it. If you've seen enough police cars (either in passing or in skirmishes with the law, whichever), you should know there's enough sepcific decor/identification that they have that the Decepticon Barricade doesn't.

 

Not really.

 

That's the thing.. he might be. There's a fine line between his right to free speech, and the illegal act of impersonation of a law enforcement officer.

I remember a blurb about Best Buy being busted big time for this in a suite vs. the state of California, all based on their New Beetle paint jobs for their Geeksquad division.


Honestly, the amount of Anti-police comments I've seen as of late is kind of making me angry. These people, both ladies and gentlemen, go out of their way everyday, and put their lives on the line. I'm not saying they are all saints, nor is the legal system perfect, but they should be shown respect. Hell we respect and support the troops we have in the armed forces, why don't we the ones that are here that aren't in the political limelight currently?

Maybe I'm just moody, but it just seems like a slap in the face when people are so vehemently against the police.

 

That guy did a pretty good job with his car. Looks very similar to Barricade. I did notice it says "Transformers" above "Police", which wasn't in the movie, of course. Other than that, and a few other differences, it's pretty close.

I guess I can see why the police would have a concern. But, the thing is, unless the guy himself pulls someone over or tries to present himself as a cop, he's not impersonating a police officer. Maybe it could be considered impersonating a cop car, but that's not illegal as far as I know. Making you car look like a police car isn't dangerous at all, unless you use your car to try and pull someone over. If the guy doesn't do that, then there's no real problem, except the drivers in front of him will go real slow.  

 

Words fail me.

If he ever gets arrested, he could probably sell the car for several grand on eBay and bail himself out.  

 

I've noticed the anti-police sentiment is a rising trend just in general amongst all walks of life. The criminal system in America is need of serious reform and people's knee jerk reactions are just symptomatic of that need. So its less a slap in the face and more a cry for change.


While the pant job is kinda cool, the light bars look ass. I remember we have a guy running around town a few years ago impersonating the police. He was pulling hot girls over and tried to get them to expose themselves.

 

if your going to paint your car like a cop at least do prowl.barricade sucks

 

If he wanted to do this without breaking law, he just needed to replace the wording on the car but keep the same font. Hell, Saleen (the guys who made the Barricade car) did something similar:

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/12/27/ebay-find-of-the-day-saleen-barricade-replica/

And it looks much more like Barricade than the guys Mustang (but in fairness, is also a lot more expensive than a disabled veteran could probably afford).

 

hes a douche bag that tries to get sympathy by saying hes a disabled veteran, and that he has a kid and can't be put in jail... it is his own stupid fault for both those things... he shouldn't have inlisted and he should have used a rubber.  

 

Incorrect.

The issue is that the appearance of the car could easily facilitate the actual crime of "impersonating an officer of the law". There are no laws in the USA that make it 'illegal to drive a car that resembles a police vehicle'. Your location is listed as Mexico, and since I have no idea what the laws are there regarding this sort of thing, there's nothing I can say about what the situation would be like there.

I've actually seen situations like this come up before from stories on several news sites over the years. Not only is there no law against what he has done, from what I've seen from those articles there is, as of yet, not even a legal precedent regarding this. Leaving out the ugly incidents (in deference to the board members who do not wish to see law-enforcement officer's images further tarnished), roughly half of these incidents ended with the person having the vehicle's paint job restored to what it was after it was de-commissioned from the police motor pool. A very small number of others (2 or 3, IIRC) simply did not drive them on public streets. For the others, there were no articles noting another form of resolution, leaving one to assume that nothing significant enough to set a legal precedent occurred.

It is, as stated properly in the video, 'a legal grey area'. It is 'by the letter of the law' street legal, as it appears in the news video. Another picture in this thread showed that he did have a fake light bar on top of the vehicle before. With that fake light bar, I could see why police would be upset and take it as a sign that the person does have intent to commit the crime of impersonating a police officer.

As it stands, the other changes made to the vehicle in the news video do not help the situation. The Transformers brand name put above the police lettering on the car doors could be confused for saying something else in less-than-ideal circumstances. Since current regulations require police vehicles to have the name of the city that the officer riding in the vehicle serves along with the police spelling (in order to cut down on impersonations and 'jurisdictional incidents'), then having nothing aside from the police spelling on the doors would be better for the situation.

Also, making the Decepticon logos on the sides as large as the one on the car used for Barricade in the move would help a little bit more as well.

As it stands, even if the guy does make it look properly like Barricade, this is still 'legal grey area'. I have yet to hear of any police departments (not counting Highway Patrol as 'police' due to sevral issues pertinent to this paragraph only) using the new Mustang models as an official vehicle (although, I don't really keep track of this) since, last I read, there are no production packages that meet performance and price requirements for such vehicles (in other words, in order to make a Mustang meet the demanding requirements of official police vehicles, they end up costing way too much).

Basically, the local police should, even if it has to be grudgingly, take the man at his word about his intent not to break the law (in the USA people are Innocent until proven Guilty). Of course, if there is a report that turns out to be someone impersonating an officer of the law using a Mustang, they would not be without precedent to consider this guy dog meat headed to the grinder (a.k.a. the prime suspect).

By the same token, the guy who did this should expect that he will pulled over and questioned about this from time-to-time. It would be intelligent of him to get the names of officers that have pulled him over in the past and keep that on a sheet of paper tucked in his sun visor, so that inquiries and verifications could be made that would let him be able to go on his way soon after he is pulled over.

 

Well then, maybe the police shouldn't have unmarked cars since they look like our cars.

 

The way I see it, This guy has got posted "TRANSFORMERS" on the windshield and on both sides of his doors, and a decepticon logo...he's got more things I think on that car depecting it's NOT a Police vehicle then that there is...paint job and POLICE and maybe 9-1-1 on the rear panels...which there's no problem with that. He doesn't even have the right plates to pull the "cop" look off...anytime I see yellow plates with blue letters on it and it's not a dealer car, I slow the F down.

*shrug* he's a disabled vet, he did it for his kid, cut the man some slack...he doesn't even have a flippin siren on the roof top...I don't think there's a problem at all.

 

I work for the Campus Police at my college, and I wear my Barricade track jacket to meetings.  

 

If he just got rid of the crappy piece of platic or wood or whatever the heck it is on the roof, it would be much better. That's what pushes it over the line to me.

 

That's doubly awesome. It's one thing to have that great jacket (I was extremely pleased when I finally got my hands on one), but wearing it while on duty as a cop is *way* cooler. I wonder how many people just assume that your jacket is a police jacket when you wear it to meetings: if you aren't paying attention, the police logo on the back is subtly deceiving.

 

Yeah, old but still funny, people need to relax a bit about the paint job. Get upset about the unmarked cop cars out there, not the fake marked ones!

 

One of the other student patrollers thought it was an actual cop jacket, he said "Uh...that's, um, 'To Punish and Enslave,' that's an interesting police slogan." One of the other patrollers pointed out that it was just a Transformers jacket, though. I like wearing it around campus, especially in the dorm on weekends when people are at their most devious.  

 

And that's where the problem lies folks... there's always someone who tries to copy the police for his or her's own benefit. And those are the uncool ones who make things bad for us all. I love it what that guy has done with his car and above all... I mean come on Man!!!... it says "Transformers" on all sides of that vehicle to. Idark's Ride really kick's ass. One of his Friends told me about his ride... and gosh would I love to shoot a Fanmade movie with it... kinda like the chase with Bumblebee.