Imagine driving a car for work that could easily be mistaken for a car that an undercover cop would drive. If you were mistaken for an undercover cop, would you go along with it, or would you correct anyone who made this mistake?

In this story, one news photographer is in this exact situation, but he doesn’t bother correcting anyone who mistakes him for an undercover cop. Keep reading to see how that works out for him.

I’m not a cop, but I’ll help you out

I work as a news photographer in a major city. This evening I pulled spot news duty (which is my favorite, I’m very good at it). I listen to scanners, follow breaking news pagers and blogs, and generally stand by for stuff to happen.

Two key elements of the story are (1) my vehicle looks very much like a cop car. As we were taught in 8th grade biology, Form Follows Function.

It really wouldn’t be hard to mistake it for a police car.

It’s a Ford Explorer, festooned with antennas (for radios and scanners) and has a Jotto Desk to hold my laptop in the the passenger seat so I can run internet searches and listen to IP based scanner sources. It also has strobes (white and amber – construction lights) for roadside safety. Can’t use them while moving but it still has an undercover cop look to it.

The vehicle is outfitted to do my job efficiently.

Point (2) is that while in standby I have found a parking spot that is near major intersections to get around town fast while not being easy for people to sneak up on me unawares. It could also be construed as a radar trap for those who think I’m official.

Some guys from out of town had an easy question.

A bit before sunset, as I am sitting there surfing Reddit on my phone and listening to the scanners, a pickup pulled in beside me. I was thinking it was a water department supervisor (the spot is a driveway into a pumping station with a convenient porta potty on site) and I was half expecting to get kicked out – a bummer but oh well.

Nope, it was a couple polite good ole boys from out of town asking about any nearby fishing spots. Fortunately we were right around the corner from some nice locations I knew and could quickly provide directions.

After an admonition to refrain from eating what they caught (urban rivers and all that) the polite young men thanked me and went on their way.

Another person stopped to ask a question.

Not ten minutes later another vehicle pulls up. He was lost and was hoping I could help him find his way.

Fortunately I was able to explain the logic behind the way the city is laid out, and within a few moments he grasped where he needed to go and off he went.

I’m sure these folks think the city employs some very helpful undercover cops now, and I’m not one to dissuade their conclusions.

I for one found the two pleasant interactions a very nice change of pace from my usual evening’s activities, and I have started my weekend a bit more upbeat than expected.

OP seems to have a good attitude about the interactions. I was expecting the story to go differently and for OP to be really annoyed. This was a pleasant surprise.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

I completely agree!

This is a good point.

OP is just making an assumption.

This is true.

Correcting someone isn’t always necessary.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.