Jalopnik: cops

Cops Crew Crashes In Major Portland Accident

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:30:00 EDT

A Subaru Outback smashed into a Portland cop car carrying an officer and the crew of Cops. All three in the cop car were sent to the hospital with minor injuries. A special-edition's probably in the works. Gallery below.

[Fox12]

Cops Gets Crashy

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:13:04 EDT

In Soviet Russia, Brad Pitt Pulls Over You!

The Auto Insider — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EDT

Hollywood's favorite mustachioed heart throb is no stranger to attention, which is why Russian authorities are banking on cardboard cut-outs of Brad Pitt in police gear to slow motorists in Moscow.

The local Russian cops in the city of Omsk have begun placing cardboard cutouts of Brad Pitt dressed up as a traffic cop on streets in order to help slow motorists in the most dangerous intersection of the city and, surprisingly, it seems to be working. Omsk officials are stating that accident rates are way down, likely due to motorists slowing down to gaze at the Hollywood hunk.

In the local newspaper, Dmitry Ziryanov, the Omsk official that came up with the ingenious idea, says that Pitt is somewhat of a "colleague for us." We think we'd be able to achieve the same results if we had Megan Fox cutouts throughout our city. [via yahoonews]

Does This Look Like a Gun to You ?

matt buchanan — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EDT

It did to Australian cops who found this steering wheel lock while searching 18-year-old Chad Hasting's car after they pulled him over. They called in backup and arrested him for possessing a gun.

Two more cops arrived in an unmarked car, and moments later, Chad Hastings was freed. According to Hastings, the arresting officer muttered, "Get a new steering wheel lock, it looks like a bloody gun," and told him he was a "a lucky boy," since "any other cop would have had you at gunpoint."

I have to say, if there was a gun that looked just like the Club, it would probably be a space death ray gun, so I think I'd have probably done same thing. [Courier Mail via digg]

UK Google Street View Car Busted By Cops

The Auto Insider — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Google may be the big boss hog around these internets, but not so much in the UK. A Neatorama reader captured the Street View camera car getting the royal treatment from some of England's finest.

The story is told through the three images below, depicting the Google Street View camera car illegally driving down a bus / bicycle / taxi only lane. We also hear the Google driver was heavily doped up on methamphetamine and on the lookout for a singled-eyed man with a patch. Okay, so we made the last part up. Below is the actual eye-witness account.

Here's the story of the incident in Chris' own words:

I'm from Bradford, United Kingdom. I was just going on my lunch break at work today and i noticed a black car that had stopped at a red light. It had a "google" sticker on the side, and a large camera "thing" on the top. I decided to pull out my camera phone to take a pic, but just as i did a police car pulled up right behind it and put on it's lights and officer inside was motioning the car to pull over.

I then realised why, as the car was in the lane to go straight ahead, which was marked "bus / bicycle / taxi only", before i could take another pic, the google car sped off, went nearly the whole way round the block in busy Bradford city centre (the police still following now with lights and siren on!), before eventually pulling into a car park… which just happened to be the car park to the old police station!!!

When i eventually caught up i did manage to get a picture of the police car and the Google car pulled over in the car park, after which the officer got out of the car and started asking me not to take pictures! lol

Also, I'm hoping when they put the street level view for Bradford on google maps, am hoping there will be a cheeky pic of me taking a pic of the google car, which i can then upload to google earth my pic of the google car taking a pic of me (if that makes sense?!? lol)

That is the suck.

[via neatorama]

Hello KITT: Aussie Cops Testing Super Police Cruiser

bwojdyla — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:15:00 EST

Here is where Shakespeare's timeless question gets stretched to it's limit; Does a rose by any other name smell just as sweet? Or adapted: Does KITT, recreated in part by Aussie coppers, bust just as many bad guys? The cool swooshy light show will be roofside instead of in the nose, but it does a lot of the stuff that got our collective 12 year old engines revved. How about starting with the solid base of a Holden Commodore VE, add realtime cameras that stream video back to base, voice recognition, automatic plate recognition, and get this - the ability to fire a GPS enabled tracking dart into a cars' backside. Now doubt hoons everywhere will respond with rotating number plates, hardened trunk lids impervious to darts, and lasers. Also, turbo boost. What? You mean life doesn't imitate art? [couriermail.com.au]

Cops Desperately Chase Stolen Krispy Kreme Truck

bwojdyla — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:30:00 EST

Sometimes, the jokes are just too easy. Yesterday, police officers in Madison Wisconsin were involved in a high speed chase with one Warren G. Whitelightning, drunk in a stolen Krispy Kreme truck (see, there are like nine jokes right there). Mr. Whitelightning (hehehehe) had previously had his license revoked after a fourth DUI and, in a larger offense, was spewing doughnuts all over the road during the chase. ON TOP of all of that, Warren G. initially stole the truck in a daring escape from the scene of a previous crime, where he pocketed eight red-hot pickled sausages from a convenience store. He's facing up to nine and a half years in the slammer, but authorities should let him out now to provide us with more awesome stories to read about.[The Capital Times]

Why Fight Crime When You Can Handcuff The Handicapped?

Jonny Lieberman — Fri, 18 May 2007 18:00:00 EDT

This isn't a head shaker as much as it is a head hanger. With extra doses of shame. Around about 30 miles north of Bakersfield, CA there sits a little town called Visalia. Population, tiny. And Arleen Avila and her 2002 ML Mercedes were in the drive-thru lane at In-N-Out trying to get a burger. But, she fell asleep. Someone tipped off the 5-0 and after she got her Double-Double an officer ordered her out of the vehicle. See though, here's the thing. Arleen suffers from Parkinson's (just like Mohammad Ali) and as a result can't, you know, walk. So the cop decided to yank her out of the car, handcuff and book her for for a DUI. Only she doesn't drink. True, her speech was slurred — because she has Parkinson's. And she was on medication — for Parkinson's. So, let's recap. If Vilsalia changed its name to "Methalbham" no one would notice. A sober, disabled woman falls asleep getting a burger and is then roughly arrested and charged with a DUI. They also didn't give her access to wheel chair once they haul her in. And she's got lots of contusions on her arms and legs. This is just one more of the many reasons why I always vote against pay hikes for cops. – Jonny Lieberman

Ailing woman challenges officers [Visalia Times-Delta]

Related:
Jersey Cop Fuzzed for Robbing Impounded Cars [Internal]