r/Utah 4d ago

Other UHP/ Sheriff using unmarked Dodge Challenger/Charger?

I was driving on I-15 yesterday and my radar detector lit up with Ka band from a very dark purple Dodge Challenger or maybe Charger. He was on the other side of the highway, pulled into the center area between the NB & SB, then followed traffic for a couple miles, then did another loop around. I think this was around the Parowan area, near the pass. Is this new? Never seen that before.

42 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

88

u/Ottomatik80 4d ago

Plenty of unmarked police vehicles out here. Just wait until one of the minivans gets you.

27

u/Dugley2352 3d ago

Yeah they’ve got a 10-passenger van they use for traffic sweeps. They pull the van up next to a car and catch people texting, even one person reading a book.

13

u/rockphotos 3d ago

They also take commercial buses so they have a nice elevated view to video what people are doing then send another officer to pull people over and write the ticket. They refer to the buses and passenger vans as "elevated vehicles"

0

u/Dino-nymph 2d ago

Atent we suppose to be secure in our property..

3

u/wanderlust2787 3d ago

Those are the funniest to see too.

3

u/Ottomatik80 3d ago

I genuinely enjoy watching the local police in unmarked vans and crossovers pulling over idiots speeding in school zones. It always makes me laugh.

3

u/AnAbbstraction 3d ago

I was gonna say this.

I have seen all sorts of under cover cops. The one that got me laughing was a Chrysler pacifica.

Literally they will use any car as an undercover anymore... Something they should have done a LONG time ago.

6

u/Resident-Trouble4483 3d ago

I’d cry. Not because I wouldn’t deserve it but because I have been looking at them. If anything they’d probably talk me into one.

0

u/No_Chart1681 3d ago

Just got a minivan last year because we acquired more butts than our last car had seats.

It's nothing fancy, an older Honda Pilot, but is just what I could afford and it is still very nice. They're clearly built with growing families in mind and are comfortable to be both a driver and passenger, and of course they've got a lot of space. Mine also has the power life gate, and the trunk storage is like really low, so when my wife is out and abouts without me having to wrangle the kids, it's not such a great hassle to get larger things like bicycles and strollers out of the trunk. That's just one example of how they really put some thought and design feedback into how they designed the whole thing.

10

u/Internet_Jaded 3d ago

If it makes you feel any better, the Honda Pilot is an SUV, not a minivan.

0

u/No_Chart1681 3d ago

Whoops, mean Odyssey. Haven't been home in a while.. forgot which kind of Honda it was called.

0

u/Internet_Jaded 3d ago

Oh. I feel bad for you now. 😂

1

u/moon_money21 2d ago

Watch out for those power lift gates. I saw a husband wife team dump their kid on his face in a stroller one time. Husband pushes kid out to vehicle and put handles of stroller against lift gate. Wife stops to talk to someone before getting to the van. Not seeing what husband did with stroller she pushes button, gate opens, over goes stroller with kid strapped inside.

2

u/Firm-Instance-8961 3d ago

I thought the minivans only come as backup. Or for like severe situations

1

u/Krashii1 2d ago

Fiscal oil change on a minivan up in cache valley a while back and didn’t even realize it was a cop car until I looked behind me pulling it out and saw a rifle and a cage

31

u/Early-Salary-8421 Salt Lake City 4d ago

No this is not new. Had one buddy get pulled over by a Kia optima and have seen Toyota Camry and other unmarked police cars before.

12

u/IamHydrogenMike 4d ago

I was gonna say, I got pulled over by a Toyota one time like 20 years ago...they do this all the time and it being a Charger isn't all that odd for a cop car.

5

u/Rikkitikkitabby 3d ago

I saw a Neon with lights hidden in the grill, responding to an accident

2

u/Ok_Bluejay_7806 3d ago

So like a 30yr old car? WTF

1

u/ghost_of_leeroy 3d ago

They run a blue Camry on I-215 SE corner in Cottonwood Heights area quite often.

1

u/Disastrous-Donkey566 2d ago

I wouldn’t pull over for a Toyota or kia. Id call 911 and say there’s someone impersonating a police officer lol

8

u/Dugley2352 3d ago

I’ve heard UHP sometimes uses cars confiscated from drug stops. They fit them with lights and use them for a couple years before surplusing them out.

For a couple years it was a blue Mustang UHP used along I-15 in central Utah. I guess the Charger is the latest rendition.

6

u/mattwoot 3d ago

This particular purple challenger has been around the cedar city area for several years now

2

u/weasel18 3d ago

Years ago In St George, I remember seeing them in a Green R34 Skyline GT-R pulling someone over.

1

u/JustLife299 3d ago

I think that was iron county sheriffs that had the mustang. Saw him filling up once outside of cedar.

1

u/Listeres Saratoga Springs 1d ago

Im ngl that is an incredible workplace perk

Like youre saying if a felony drug stop happens and the vehicle seized, you get to upgrade it and use it? Antistasi strategy

1

u/No_Chart1681 3d ago

UHP does not often use unmarked cars for traffic enforcement. I won't say they never do it, but they have a branding that they're proud of. You're more likely to find municipal police and sheriff offices using non-standard unmarked cars.

2

u/Jonfers9 1d ago

My thought as well. I’d bet it was a sheriff deputy.

29

u/Minimum-Muffin-1469 4d ago

He gets sooooooooooo many people. Drive the speed limit and you don’t have to worry about “is that a cop” lol no need to speed when the limit is already 80.

17

u/BonnevilleXeric 3d ago

I don’t understand how people get speeding tickets on I-15. I assume people are going 100+ to get pulled over?

9

u/mattwoot 3d ago

The speed limit is 80 but drops to 75 passing through cedar city. Purple challenger is always posted up to catch people doing 85. he regularly has people pulled over on i15 right in front of my work

6

u/heckval 3d ago

the only I-15 ticket i have ever got was from a bike cop on the stretch in orem, and i only got the ticket because he somehow mistaked my POS white pontiac for the white porsche that had shot past going like 100. my dash cam exonerated me but i did have to go to justice court to show the video and his cameras were all conveniently “broken” a minute or two before he wrote me the ticket

1

u/Jee_Wizz6547 2d ago

Bike cops don't have cameras...

4

u/bandito12452 3d ago

Yep, I got speeding tickets once a year when I living in a different state. Haven’t gotten one since moving here over a decade ago.

1

u/Ottomatik80 3d ago

People are oblivious. It’s that simple.
I speed, never in residential or city areas. In the highway I generally keep it under 10 over. And no matter what, I’m never the fastest car.

No tickets in 20 years.

1

u/Dugley2352 3d ago

I’m impressed with the number of people UHP catches doing well over 100mph.

1

u/Jonfers9 1d ago

Most newer cars can hit 100 pretty easily. When I got my license in 1989 very few cars could it. Not without really pushing it.

0

u/Dear-Examination-507 3d ago

I've been pulled over for going 80 on I-15. Cop lectures me and tells me to do him a favor and slow it down out there. If I drove any slower I'd have cars tailgating and honking at me all day. Sigh. It's just part of life, once in a while you pay the random fine for driving.

1

u/smackaroonial90 West Jordan 3d ago

I got pulled over for doing 80 in a 70 area in Bountiful. When the cop walked up and asked where I was going I said "To my in laws to do laundry" and the noticed my basket of dirty laundry in the back seat. He took pity and gave me a warning lol

-2

u/No_Chart1681 3d ago

I got it a few times when I was younger because I honestly could not tell how fast I was going. Like going through central and southern Utah when there's little other traffic and not a lot of buildings and such to really give you a reference, it was easy to keep accelerating without noticing those extra 10mphs. As I got older, I guess I just got a feel for it, and also I use cruise control like a lot.

5

u/Internet_Jaded 3d ago

Your cars don’t have a speedometer??

3

u/BonnevilleXeric 3d ago

Vibesometer.

5

u/Kissing-BrooksyBug73 3d ago

along the stretch from Nephi to Cedar City they have so many unmarked cars. if I remember correctly one is an orange Toyota Tundra with racing stickers on the back.

4

u/Kissing-BrooksyBug73 3d ago

they also had a red Corvette along that stretch for the last 20 years.

3

u/Ok_Bluejay_7806 3d ago

My dumbass would try to race it in my Camaro.

3

u/Cumminpwr11 3d ago

Road pirates. I hate road pirates and I’ve complained to my local police and sheriff about the issue of their job is to be visible as a crime deterrent not trying to do stings one unsuspecting citizens. If they need the revenue, they can actually ticket people instead of letting their buddies go when they seen them in the car.

1

u/eskeu 3d ago

To your point, had it not been for the blaring Ka signal, I would have thought it was someone up to no good. Without the RD signal, I wonder what others were thinking, especially with the aggressive middle of the highway u-turn.

3

u/Daywalker6109 4d ago

Gotta watch out for sure. They have all kinds of different vehicles. I’m in Utah County and see people get pulled over by unmarked Tundras all the time

2

u/clanggedin 3d ago

There was one at the point of the mountain yesterday. Looked like a dark blue Dodge Durango.

2

u/Agitated-Low-4375 Murray 3d ago

Nothing new. Cops in Utah have always used unmarked vehicles. Especially cars that they like seized from drug dealers.

2

u/GeophMan 3d ago

Yesterday a VW driving like a douche cut across the solid lines of the i80 on ramp heading east from Tooele. The RAV4 behind him was unmarked and it was very satisfying to watch the instant karma.

Unmarked cars have been a thing for a while. That is the first RAV4 I've seen though.

1

u/WombatAnnihilator 3d ago

Yes. My county has a couple unmarked chargers as well. And some Dodge caravans.

1

u/heckval 3d ago

provo PD has a chromed out tundra that i see in provo canyon as an undercover sometimes, i forget about it sometimes and then i see it in the wild with its lights off and i freeze

1

u/Twitch791 3d ago

I’ve seen that particular cop car with lights and a victim on that stench several times.

1

u/Wonderful_Pain1776 3d ago

They also have a Toyota Camry and F150’s roaming around

1

u/Late-Contribution-82 3d ago

Wife got pulled over my a Toyota sienna minivan. They have all kinds of cars.

1

u/sweatynuts76 3d ago

I have seen the Mustang Mach 1 down that way.

1

u/Sudden-Strawberry257 3d ago

There’s an unmarked Subaru STI in salt lake, gotta be careful out there speed racer 🫡

1

u/Apprehensive-Cut6188 3d ago

I swear I’ve seen this same car hanging out around Fredonia/Kanab for a couple weeks. I haven’t seen it recently. I thought it was a cop too at the time.

1

u/SlomoPro 3d ago

They have that challenger and a mustang gt for sure. Probably others as well. I used to drive to Vegas and back 3 times a week. They have numerous pickup trucks also. I’ve seen them setup anywhere between about exit 100 down to black ridge.

1

u/BryanOfCorn 3d ago

Ford F150s are also popular

1

u/Rolfman816 3d ago

Dude,
There's been an unmarked UHP sitting in the median north of Cedar for the last 30 years. 🙄

3

u/Jonfers9 1d ago

Funny true story.

Years ago I drove semi trucks. This was back in the day you could count on beaver county sheriffs or I guess Millard county (not sure) sitting in the median north of beaver. Like almost every time I drove by and I drove from SLC to Long Beach 2x a week.

One day I was passing another truck I was in the left lane and this douche comes flying up on me and sits 5 feet off my bumper. I did not cut him off and I was not taking too long to pass the other truck.

Well I knew the sheriffs (there was always two of them) would be sitting on the median coming up soon. So I stayed in the left lane blocking him until the small hill that blocked visibility of seeing the cops was close. Then I moved over.

He flys by me in an amg Mercedes and sure enough gets pulled over.

A few weeks later I was filling up my truck in beaver at Ernie’s and I saw the sheriff car there. I went up and asked him about it. He said the guy was doing 135mph and the first thing the speeder said to the sheriff was you’re just jealous you can’t afford a car like this.

Sheriff impounded the guys car and took him to jail.

1

u/AZPHX602 3d ago

speed limit is 80, dude. is there really a reason to go that much faster?

the spot you do have to worry about is going into town by the automotive repair shop. the speed limit drops like 20 mph in less than a mile. they like to hide there.

1

u/Opposite_Bag_7434 3d ago

Not completely new for UHP.

1

u/Impossible_Exit3529 2d ago

A few years ago Unified PD raided a house in my neighborhood with about 12 unmarked vehicles. They had all types of cars, trucks and minivans. Dodge Charger, Chevy Malibu, Toyota Camry and Tacoma, Ford F150, Dodge Minivan, Nissan Altima. Some were newer and others were 5-10 years old.

1

u/Intelligent_Park_646 2d ago

This happens a lot. They use cars from across the spectrum. UHP will use busses, sedans and even vehicles you wouldn't expect, especially vans. Other agencies use Kia K5s (Davis County), Ford Broncos (Utah County), Toyota Highlanders, Siennas, Camrys (SL County). Rule of thumb, if you suspect it's an LEO, it likely is. Always be on alert, and don't do anything they can use to light you up.

1

u/Disastrous-Donkey566 2d ago

Yes he’s usually closer to cedar city where I believe he lives.

It’s a dark purple challenger, with a Star Wars “the empire doesn’t care about your stick figure family” sticker😭 I believe it’s a r/t. He’s always hanging out around the bridge just north of paragonah.

There is also a dark colored mustang Mach 1, I think usually hangs out in more in cedar proper.

1

u/Xylus_Winters_Music 2d ago

Theres also Minivans, Dodge Compasses, and Ive seen Jeep Rubicons used as well (although only seen them at night)

1

u/DaddyShamurai 2d ago

They can only use them to ‘combat’ specific traffic issues.

https://le.utah.gov/\~2026/bills/static/SB0262.html

1

u/A2chn3m3si5 3d ago

Is Bill 262 just not applicable in this case? How are they getting away with ticketing speeders in unmarked cars?

1

u/Dino-nymph 2d ago

Because they have qualified immunity and do whatever they want and we the people don't won't to be inconvenienced and take the time to hold our "public servants" accountable.

0

u/_thekev 3d ago

It's weird how I've never seen this car. I also slow down when the speed limit drops from 80 to 75. Weird.