Remember when we all talked about the people getting burned for not stopping immediately when for a cop's flashing lights - sometime last year, I think, and the cops on the forum were all saying, "Yeah, you gotta stop immediately, no going down the road for safety or anything like that."
Just heard a Va. State cop on the TV saying, "Yeah, its OK to go to a well-lighted or well traveled area" in response to a local cop impersonator that is stopping people with flashing lights.
IOW, it is not convenient for the cops to take this position, because they know the next thing that is coming if someone gets raped or end by some cop impersonator is a state-wide ban on stopping people with anything but a fully-visible marked police car - no more of these "inside the car, taped to the dash" lights that anyone can get at an auto parts store. That sort of law is just what happened in Ohio after a 1950's "Red light bandit" was robbing and raping from his ordinary civilian car equipped with a red light. Now, no more unmarked car stops in Ohio - the Ohio State Patrol just puts thousands of cars on the road and conducts visibility campaigns, and intimidates everyone into slowing down.
But, anyway, don't expect any consistency from the cops - if its convenient, they'll nail you for not stopping "right now" if they turn on their flashy lights, except when there's a public hieghtened awareness of a problem that is inherently wrong with all these unmarked cars running around ambushing people for the "horrible crime" (and lucrative racket) of "speeding", then its OK to continue to drive if you aren't sure its really a cop (and if the cops know that the next step is the removal of their precious right to sneak up on the "heinous criminal speeders" and make millions of dollars doing it.)
Dave Head
