UPDATED: The mother of all news stories
11 a.m. Wednesday UPDATE:
The police car has been moved. Here’s what I wrote about it on Tuesday:
Curiosity got the best of me this week when I wrote this to Danville Police Capt. Matt Carter:
“Why is the empty patrol car parked on Central Boulevard (facing southbound traffic)? How much longer will it be there? Are officers using it at certain times during the day to catch traffic law violators?”
Maybe the police department is giving everyone fair warning. DPD has already used its mobile speed detector in that same spot — you know, the one that tells you what your speed is and flashes red numbers when you’re speeding.
Anyway, I didn’t get that far with the captain. Here’s what he wrote back:
“A motorist may or may not see an occupied or unoccupied marked police car at any location in the city at any time of the day or night. With this in mind our hope is that everyone is more mindful of their speed and any other driving behavior that increases the chances of a being in a vehicle crash.”
That’s a really nice way of saying we’re not going to answer your question. I get that. What I don’t know is why that particular spot has been hosting an empty police car this week. But I’ll bet the police department is warning drivers — at least for now — along that stretch of Central Boulevard to slow down.
What other reason could they have to have an empty police car parked there?
Posted by Robert Benson at 09:32 PM. Filed under: benson_main •
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Posted by ( danvillevillander ) on February 25, 2010 at 9:23 pm
They do this type of stuff all the time down here in N.C. We call them “ghost cops.“ It seems to be a cheap deterrent against speeders. Gets them to at least slow down.
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Posted by ( danvegas ) on February 24, 2010 at 6:00 pm
How bizarre. One wonders about the prudence of wasting a valuable resource that could be occupied by a live human being pulling over people speeding/endangering other drivers. At least they might put one of those dummies (with a police hat, no less) in the car to make it appear like someone’s actually in the car, for crying out loud.
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Posted by ( SouthsideCentrl ) on February 23, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Best. “Non-Statement”. Ever.
This deserves a SC mention. :)
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