Cop Cabs: The NYPD has at least three fake taxis on NYC's streets

How many look like Town Cars?

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That’s on this one article.

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Oh my, what will they think of next…

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I bet this has been the case for a while. Cabs just fade into the background, perfect for surveillance. Also, pretty good as stings for assaults on cabbies.

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Also excellent for illegal surveillance on Mosques… :frowning:

I don’t think I’d even think twice about NYPD having cabs as undercover vehicles were it not for NYPD’s literal police-state level abuse of surveillance - going so far as to have CIA officers working at NYPD.

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NYPD’s fake taxis have been around for years and I’m sure there are way more than five of them, as I’ve seen them driving around on multiple occasions (they’re pretty easy to spot if you know what to look for) and parked outside my local precinct house.

Here are some links from the last time BoingBoing posted about the subject.

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The NYPD has been silent about how the cars are used…

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Oh yeah, the NYPD is just out of control. Not just “stop and frisk” too, but also freaking driving around randomly x-raying strangers without their knowledge AND THEN being told by a judge to release information on it, and just saying “nope” for three years.

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Sick, venal. . .

Goes back to the mid-80’s at least

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It used to be easy to spot them. They were usually a few model years out of date, and the medallion number (displayed on the rooftop lighted sign) didn’t match the license plate, as it does with “real” taxis. I’m not sure this is still true, as lately I’ve seen obviously legitimate taxis where the two didn’t match.

I’m surprised this is even news. In NY a taxi seems like a very sensible vehicle for all sorts of perfectly legitimate undercover work.

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If only that were all NYPD did…

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I’ve definitely seen obvious cop cabs with license plates that matched the medallion number.

I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a legit NYC yellow cab with a license plate that didn’t match the medallion number. Although I think there are special backup medallions that can be used when a medallion taxi is in the shop for repair. Maybe those don’t match?

Not quite new, I saw a taxi-cop maybe 10 years ago

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Do we care?

So… if it’s an undercover cop cab, who gets to keep the tips?

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I hope the TLC’s response includes the words ‘forge your own damn credentials like you did last time then, and leave us alone’. This is a public trust issue; if I get in a cab, I want to know it’s an actual cab. Not a scam, not a con, but an actual person who plans to give me a ride. No different than if I install software and prefer that it’s actual software, and not a virus with a fake certificate. (I’m assuming that baconcabs don’t pick up passengers, but the proliferation of fake cabs and forged credentials still hurts public trust.)

Other than cabbie-abuse sting operations, one would assume they don’t bother picking up real fares.

As the addage, “only Nixon could go to China,” insinuates, only the NYPD can break the law - any law - with impunity in “service” of protecting the public.

With guardians like these, who needs enemies?

Though, on one hand, its good to know that if you’re drawing breath, you’re a suspect in the eyes of those forming the thin blue line.

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