Park a Black & White for presence?

[whipkiller]

Hi guys, just curious here.

Is it common practice to park a marked unit and just leave it somewhere to show a police presence?

A couple of miles from my house there is an Islamic Center, and lately I've been seeing a SDPD unit parked very conspicuously by the entrance to their parking lot, but I've yet to see an officer. Sometimes it sits there for a couple of days.

Is this just to make people think there is an officer there so they think twice about causing problems, or what?

Thanks in advance, and happy 4th.

[Unit74]

Yes, my old dept did that all the time. We had a problem with Kohls and Target shoplifting. Professional crews, not stupid kids. We'd park units right in front in the red zone or up on the sidewalk out of the way.

[whipkiller]

Interesting, pretty good tactic and I imagine it probably works.

I've never noticed it there until the last month or two, I wonder if they've had some problems to prompt this.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Bruce

[Waking Heavy]

Yes, my old dept did that all the time. We had a problem with Kohls and Target shoplifting. Professional crews, not stupid kids. We'd park units right in front in the red zone or up on the sidewalk out of the way.

See that all the time at various big boxes. Also know of a town in Oregon that has a ground level life sized color mural of a car (with officer inside) painted on the side of a building along main street.

[LtJim]

Old tactic. Did this back in the '80s with the Units that were out of service awaiting repairs. We put them at locations for traffic issues. Results were great.

Average Joe always gets "light bar fever" and decides to obey the law.

Interesting - Islamic Center??????

[pacrat]

City of Paramount has 4 banks in one city block. It also has a black n white parked on the block. Never an officer in it just sitting there.

Kinda like small rural towns sometimes have a plywood silhouette of a black n white with a "painted" officer pointing a radar gun, sitting on the city limits as a reminder.

[NapalmCheese]

City of Paramount has 4 banks in one city block. It also has a black n white parked on the block. Never an officer in it just sitting there.

Bah, amateurs.
The fed police at my college would park a car in common speeding areas with a mannequin in the driver seat.

[hermosabeach]

The Frys by my house has a PD vehicle there a lot....

Not sure if stats show that it works or not...

[waawaaweenie]

if you travel through Texas, most tiny little towns that are scattered everywhere actually have a city cop car with an actual officer using a radar gun pretty much around the clock and that cuts down on speeding too. Probably their only source of revenue. The speed limits along the rural roads there are 75 mph until you get to a tiny town then it goes down to sometimes 15 mph through there and then back up to 75. if you get a ticket there, you deserved it.

[KrisDSA]

Local PDs back home do it all the time. Even the side of the road

[WyattandDoc]

LAPD put one on our border with a female manequin officer in it. We kidnapped the officer (Manequin) and dropped off a picture/ransom letter with a gun to her head demanding a pizza be sent to our station.

Their W/C called our W/C and was NOT HAPPY. Never got the pizza.

[VegasND]

Some of the funniest for sale signs I ever read were left on the police cars parked abandoned on the side of the road in Wickenburg.

[Garand1911]

ive seen the LAPD cars with dummies inside, used to slow down the traffic on my street.

[pacrat]

LAPD put one on our border with a female manequin officer in it. We kidnapped the officer (Manequin) and dropped off a picture/ransom letter with a gun to her head demanding a pizza be sent to our station.

Their W/C called our W/C and was NOT HAPPY. Never got the pizza.

That right there is funny.

[sar_man]

One of the mosques in Sacramento has a black and white Crown Vic with no marking parked at the entrance to their parking lot.