A rash of car burglaries in one southern California jurisdiction serves as a good reminder to not let your off-duty vehicles reveal your law enforcement connection.
According to an advisory from a sheriff’s department in that area, suspects were targeting personal vehicles with license plate frames bearing the letters KMA. Years ago that was the official FCC call sign for LAPD radio transmitters. Now it’s considered a code in those parts to let other cops know that the vehicle belongs to one of their own.
Unfortunately, criminals are hip to the meaning as well and, according to the advisory, the break-in artists “probably were looking for guns and badges” that might be stashed in KMA-plated vehicles.
Off-duty, it’s wise to keep your official status covert unless it’s to your advantage to do otherwise. Just as you probably want to avoid police-logoed T-shirts and caps off-duty, don’t “dress to impress” your private car(s) either.
“The easier your car is to identify as belonging to a cop, the more it becomes a target,” the sheriff’s advisory says. And the targeting can include gunfire as well as thievery.
The worst example of this overexposure I’ve seen was on a private vehicle in an Eastern state that bore this vanity plate: “OFFICER.”
It’s one thing to have pride in your profession, but don’t let it blind you to the kind of attention you might regret attracting!
