PERRY: Easy crime prevention: End police impostors by banning unmarked cop cars

Enough is enough with people being victimized by fake cops.

A fast-thinking Aurora woman called 911 when iconic flashing lights appeared in her rear-view mirror early Monday morning driving on Montview Boulevard.

Dispatchers quickly determined the man driving the Subaru behind her, and trying to pull her over, wasn’t a cop. Real officers sped to the scene and pulled over the impostor before he could even contact the woman he was tailing.

Cops arrested 22-year-old Antonio Marcus Arbogast, and he faces charges of impersonating a police officer. Arobogast was dressed in a security uniform, and he had a gun.

The woman was fast-thinking, and lucky. Lots of people, often women, weren’t so lucky when they saw the flashing lights in the rear-view mirror and did what almost all of us do.

We’re as conditioned as Pavlov’s dogs to feel that visceral shock when the flashing lights appear when we’re on the road. Foot comes off the gas. We grip the wheel. We hold our breath. And we wait and hope that it’s the driver up ahead about to answer questions to a cop about speeding or bad tail lights. You know what I’m talking about. Cops know what I’m talking about. And cop impersonators count on what I’m talking about.

Flustered, you might not notice the uniform isn’t quite right, especially in the dark, blinded by a bright flashlight or spotlight on the car. A growing number of robbers, rapists, murderers and run-of-the-mill creeps depend on your reflexive willingness to comply and your accepting or overlooking things that might not be what you’d expect when you’re pulled over.

It’s unclear just how often people impersonate cops. There are a lot of people who act like cops just for the thrill, and some victims are never the wiser. But police admit the potential danger, and that it happens often enough to regularly warn people, especially women alone in cars, to pay attention and call 911 if they’re suspicious.

A long list of women weren’t as lucky as the Aurora woman was this week. There are generations of tales of women who complied with the demands of fake cops and were sexually assaulted, kidnapped or murdered.

One of the most shocking cases was right here in Colorado. Lacy Miller, a University of Northern Colorado student, was kidnapped and murdered by a police impersonator after a fake traffic stop in 2003. The case prompted Lacy’s Law, making impersonation a felony and possessing flashing police lights a misdemeanor.

Despite the law, terrifying cases of police impersonators continue. And the biggest reason they are able to keep perpetrating their crime is because police, often state patrol units, routinely use unmarked police cars.

The solution is so easy: State lawmakers need to prohibit police from using unmarked police cars for traffic enforcement. That’s it. They only reason police use the unmarked cars is because it’s so easy for cops to catch traffic scofflaws. The use of the cars for traffic enforcement is dangerous, since many motorists are confused and flummoxed by the cars, creating traffic hazards themselves by not knowing what to do.

Clearly, using unmarked cars for other undercover police investigations benefits everyone. But not traffic stops. Not at all.

Police will never voluntarily quit using the cars for traffic stops. It’s too lucrative to nab speeders and others because we don’t pay attention to just any other car when we’re not paying attention or thinking we’re above speed limits and traffic regs.

Too bad. Picking off easy targets in an unmarked police car is just too dangerous. To solve most of the problem, ban unmarked traffic stops and teach the public that if the flashing, blue-and-red lights aren’t prominently mounted on bars on the top of the cop car, call 911. A public campaign will almost immediately end the practice of criminals and creeps using the unmarked-car rouse.

There are no losers in such a ban. Police can ticket and patrol as much as the see fit, but only in full uniform and only in clearly marked police cars. Then the public can worry about real police interactions on the road.

Follow @EditorDavePerry on Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com.