Do we need citizens pulling over cops?
Oct 14, 2014, 1:58 PM | Updated: Oct 15, 2014, 3:39 pm
A Grant County man who calls himself a “liberty activist” is making waves with law enforcement after videotaping himself pulling over an unmarked patrol.
Gav Seim says on his blog he decided to flag the sheriff’s deputy down after spotting him in uniform driving the unmarked car because it’s a violation of state law.
“If you think it’s not a serious issue, try asking those that have been raped or lost loves ones because of unmarked cars,” Seim writes on his blog.
In the video, he politely but persistently demands the deputy show him some ID, and informs him he’s breaking the law by driving an unmarked car.
While there’s some debate about the actual meaning of the law Seim cites, he argues it clearly prohibits law enforcement from using unmarked cars except “for special undercover or confidential investigative purposes.”
Read the law here.
“Ask yourself. Do you want your sisters and daughters stopped on the road, not knowing if they are facing an officer or a killer until it’s too late?” Seim writes.
KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson agrees. Monson says he didn’t know about the law, and if it’s true, it’s an important one.
“I don’t want somebody in an unmarked car pulling over my daughter at one in the morning.”
Listeners of the Dori Monson Show are also in favor of Seim calling attention to the issue.
“I think he was tad bit of a jerk and a little bit condescending, but overall I agree with him,” said listener Leah in Lynnwood. “I have an 18-year-old daughter and I wouldn’t want her pulled over at night by an unmarked vehicle.”
What do you think?