Police use undercover and unmarked cars every day. Some unmarked cars, however, are wilder than others. And a handful of the craziest undercover police cars are cruising New York City streets in plain view of the Big Apple’s eight million residents.
A social media video shows an undercover police car in NYC pretending to be one of the city’s most recognizable features
An Instagram video shows a bright-yellow NYC taxi cab making a left turn on one of the city’s busy streets. But there’s something off about this particular cab.
A moment later, the taxi, which is almost indistinguishable from one of the city’s instantly recognizable yellow cabs, lights up. Not “lights up” like the Discovery Channel’s “Cash Cab,” mind you. It flashes a set of police lights. This is an undercover police car parading around as an off-duty taxi cab.
It’s not just bright police lights, either. The Ford Taurus cab has a siren just like you’d expect on any other police vehicle.
This isn’t the first time the NYPD has resorted to using apparent taxi cabs
Believe it or not, this isn’t a new development. The NYPD has been using a handful of taxi-based unmarked cars for law enforcement purposes for well over a decade now.
According to Untapped New York, the NYPD frequently ran Ford Crown Victoria taxi cabs, complete with police lights and sirens. The police department’s intelligence division uses the cabs “to conduct surveillance operations” on the city’s streets without arousing suspicion.
It makes sense, too. Even with the advent and rampant popularity of ride-share services, the NYC yellow cab is a city institution. The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission reports that there are at least 13,587 yellow cabs with auctioned “medallions” to operate on the city’s streets.
It’s such a common sight that the bright-yellow people movers don’t raise so much as an eyebrow. Just, you know, maybe try not to hail an undercover police car. Check out the video for yourself below.
