Dangers of Undercover Police Cars Essay

By definition, the police are a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. Many people in today’s society do not trust the police. Many feel that the police are out to get them. While some feel that police keep our society in tact, some feel that they are given way to much power. Policing predominantly concerns the preservation of order and peace in our country. With that being said, keeping peace is much different from what I feel that our police enforcement agencies in this country actually do. Often, they do the opposite. Trying to find anything and everything that a citizen is doing incorrectly is not keeping peace. In fact, this causes the distancing between our police and the citizens they are policing. My bill speaks on the removal of undercover police cars from law enforcement. The impacts that these types of police vehicles have on our society all seems to be negative. They are used as a way to catch our citizens off guard, since these vehicles do not appear to be cops. As citizens, we have the right of knowledge. When a police officer is present, I think that we should be able to know. Why are they hiding from us? If they’re here to protect us, why are the not acting like it? Hiding from us makes it seem like they do not want to protect us, but trick us. Police offices’ auction off police cars that are out of commission. At a fairly cheap price, these cars are stripped off all lighting and sirens. But that is not to say they are not deceiving. With a couple of hundred dollars and computer access, you can order almost identical lights and sirens to a police officer. Here is a very scary story involving an innocent women, a criminal and a unmarked police car: It was only 1:30 in the afternoon when the unmarked police car pulled alongside Laura Johnson’s car with their flashing light on their rooftop, and signaled for her to pull over. She sensed something was off, so she kept going and immediately contacted the dispatcher who checked it out and called her back to tell her there were no unmarked police cars in that area. She was told to keep driving. In a short time 4 police cars surrounded Laura and the suspect car. The police apprehended not only a criminal impersonating a police officer, but a convicted rapist wanted by the police for other crimes. That day, Laura got lucky. But if she wouldn’t have sensed that something was off, her fate could be much different. Finally, these undercover police units cost our taxpayers more money that you may imagine. Police cars are purchased in bulk, averaging around 30 thousand apiece fully loaded. But the technologies of an undercover car, with low-key lighting and high tech LED lights placed all around the car push that number up, to around 34 thousand dollars. Lets say in one year there are 10 new undercover cop cars purchased, that’s 40 thousand dollars wasted! Of our taxpayer’s dollars, that could be used for so many other things. With all of that being said, we must pass this bill to remove undercover police cars. For the conversation of our tax money, the honesty we deserve as citizens, and the safety of the men, women, and children of our community. Thank you for your time.