How should a driver respond to unmarked police cars under the 'Back the Blue' law?
A widely circulated social media post that showed a uniformed law enforcement official with an unmarked vehicle pulling a car over in Coralville caught the attention of an elected official last month.
Coralville City Council member Jill Dodds was so alarmed by the implications that she decided to raise the issue at the council's meeting last week.
"I was very concerned about the safety issue, because I grew up in the age of no cell phones," she told the Press-Citizen. "I was always taught, and I also taught my daughter that, if you're concerned (about an unmarked vehicle pulling you over), you drive to a well-lit, populated location for safety."
Recognizing that the unmarked car in the video did not belong to Coralville police, Dodds reached out to Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel to get more information about unmarked vehicles, and a new state law that might pose a dilemma for drivers who are being pulled over by one.
The "Back the Blue" law, a wide-ranging list of enhancements for protest-related offenses and increases in police protections, also has an item related to unmarked vehicles. It adds a section to Iowa's law on eluding, making someone who doesn't stop for an unmarked vehicle at risk of being charged with that offense.
When the Iowa Senate voted on the bill this year, Sen. Kevin Kinney, D-Oxford, said to "be charged with eluding for this is crazy." Kinney is a retired Johnson County sheriff deputy who said he drove an unmarked car for 13 years.
Another law enforcement official and state senator, Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, said he rarely pulls people over while driving an unmarked vehicle.
Dodds, noting she is a "59-year-old white woman," said she would be terrified of being stopped by an unmarked vehicle.
She said she also talked to Coralville City Attorney Kevin Olson about the new law. Based on his reading, she said officers in unmarked vehicles could be in plainclothes as well.
"Then I thought, 'What if I was a Black 25-year-old male?' And things just kept getting worse in my mind, that this legislation was not a good thing," she said. "And I didn't know what to do with it. So that's why I thought, 'I'm going to bring it to the council.'"
ACLU of Iowa Executive Director Mark Stringer told the Press-Citizen that this addition to the eluding law is "terrible public policy and lawmakers should not have made this dangerous change to Iowa law."
"The advice parents frequently give to young people is not to pull over unless it's a uniformed officer in a police car (and of course to always pull over when it is)," he said. "Even though it is against the law to impersonate a police officer, how are people to know when it's a real police traffic stop, and when it's someone dangerous pretending to be one?"
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Dodds continued to think about different scenarios, including how people are now more easily able to buy handguns and carry them in public without a permit, something recently made legal by a different new Iowa law.
She also thought about the safety of an officer in plainclothes, in an unmarked car, walking up to a vehicle and how that could lead to a potentially dangerous situation.
Dodds said by bringing it to the public's attention she wanted to see what local officials can do to start discussing how to keep the community safe.
"It's not very clear that all of these changes were made," she said. "And I don't think that those are good for the safety of, not only our citizens but the safety of our police officers."
Dodds said she has no problem with unmarked vehicles or officers in plainclothes in specific situations and understands the need for them.
"But for general traffic stops, I don't see that that is absolutely necessary when we have an entire department. They could have called in a regular police officer in uniform," she said.
Dodds said she plans to further discuss options at a Coralville City Council work session.
What to do if you're concerned about an unmarked vehicle pulling you over
On Monday, Dodds talked to Coralville Police Chief Shane Kron about what could be done to keep people safe while at the same time making sure they stay within the bounds of the new law.
She said the chief told her that for people to be safe during a traffic stop, they can do several things. First, if someone wants to confirm that the person pulling them over is a real officer, they can call 911 to check.
Secondly, he told her, people can turn on their car's interior light and point forward in the direction of a well-lit, populated area, indicating that that is where they intend to pull over for the police officer.
Iowa City Police Chief Dustin Liston told the Press-Citizen it is also advised to acknowledge the officer in some way with either the hazard lights, the interior light or a hand wave, and then to pull over in the closest, well-lit, populated area.
Stringer said, while his organization does provide information on peoples' rights during traffic stops, it "is not in the position to give public safety advice to people about how to choose between complying with a law that would charge them with a crime for failure to stop for an unmarked police car, and the risk of becoming a victim of crime by someone pretending to be a police officer."
Stringer added that the ACLU of Iowa thinks the responsibility to provide guidance belongs to law enforcement and government entities.
Kron told the Press-Citizen he doesn't have any concerns about unmarked cars. At the Coralville department, he said, he does more stops in the unmarked cars than others and most of the stops are for "very high-speed, dangerous driving." He said he performs about 20 traffic stops like that a year.
"I really can't think of any incidents stemming from confusion about an unmarked car. They may be unmarked, but they are pretty obviously police cars when all the lights are on," he said. "Most of the people I stop say, 'I thought that was a police car (when I was passing it).'"
Who has unmarked police vehicles and how they are used?
Each local law enforcement agency has slightly different kinds of unmarked vehicles and uses for them. Broadly, however, officials say the unmarked vehicles help ensure traffic safety and are also used in undercover situations, and sometimes for administrative purposes.
Some departments specify a certain number of unmarked cars to detectives, administrators or patrol sergeants.
North Liberty and Iowa City police departments have policies outlining the use of the vehicles, while the Coralville department and the Johnson County Sheriff's Office don't.
Only North Liberty requires that the official using the unmarked vehicle while on patrol is required to be in uniform. Coralville and Iowa City don't require it while the Johnson County Sheriff's Office says it depends on the specific assignment.
"The unmarked vehicle's primary role is not traffic enforcement but under certain emergency situations, when equipped with lights/siren, can make a traffic stop," Liston said.
Iowa City has 10 unmarked vehicles that are used by command staff and detectives. Some of the unmarked vehicles have "subdued ICPD markings, and those are used for traffic enforcement," according to Liston.
Coralville police have five unmarked cars, while North Liberty has six.
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All of Coralville's unmarked cars have lights and sirens, while all but one of North Liberty's vehicles do. That vehicle is used only for running errands and driving to court dates or training sessions.
Kron said none of Coralville's unmarked vehicles are assigned to patrol, while three are assigned to detectives and two are administrator vehicles.
"We don't prohibit stops in unmarked cars, but we don't use unmarked cars in traffic enforcement assignments either," he wrote in an email to the Press-Citizen. "I can't say we never make traffic stops in an unmarked car, but it's fairly rare, maybe a couple a month."
For as long as he has been at the department, more than 32 years, Coralville police have had unmarked vehicles. The other local agencies have also had some kind of unmarked vehicle for decades.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office has about 14 unmarked vehicles, which are used for jail transports, civil division duties, patrol, investigations and traveling to training sessions.
"It is well within the scope of duty as a deputy sheriff to make a traffic stop if probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists, depending on the circumstances," Johnson County Det. Alissa Schuerer told the Press-Citizen.
The University of Iowa police division has five unmarked vehicles, which are not used for enforcement, such as traffic stops, according to a UI spokesperson. Officials are not required to be in uniform while driving the unmarked vehicles.
Hillary Ojeda covers breaking news and public safety for the Press-Citizen. Reach her at 319-339-7345, hojeda@press-citizen.com or follow her on Twitter at @hillarymojeda.