Nebraska rancher pursues suspicious black unmarked cruiser, states, “I was driving 85 (mph), and

The black, unmarked police cruiser, rolling slowly down the private gravel lane of a remote Nebraska ranch, looked suspicious enough.

But when rancher Kurt Meusch of Stuart, Neb., tried to stop the vehicle last week, it sped off.

“I was driving 85 (mph), and it blew away from me,” said Meusch, who reported the strange incident to the Holt County Sheriff's Office.

The car — an unmarked Nebraska State Patrol cruiser — is part of an eight-vehicle fleet that has been dispatched across the state to test the coverage of a new $17 million statewide emergency radio system

Meusch said that some time after he tried to stop one of the vehicles, two other local ranchers were able to halt one. The occupants told the ranchers about the radio testing for the system that is being used by the State Patrol, the Nebraska Public Power District and other agencies.

The local sheriff, Meusch said, also was able to track down one of the cars at a local motel to get an explanation.

www.omaha.com...

Despite the assurances from the state officials that this is “no conspiracy”, it seems to me there are still questions concerning the bizarre circumstances surrounding such a seemingly routine testing procedure. Why the secrecy with unmarked black vehicles causing alarm and confusion to citizens? Why was the local sheriff kept in the dark about this test that involved several unmarked state vehicles driving slowly in rural areas, even on private property?

I found some additional information about these public safety radio systems by Motorola, apparently being implemented and tested or currently in use by many states. It appears the media has not been reporting on widespread problems of this radio system for the last several years. In the light of this, it makes me wonder why states are still continuing to jump on board with this, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and contributing to a monopoly of the public safety airwaves by Motorola?

In 2011 the “House Committee on Energy and Commerce express concern about the dominant position Motorola holds in the public safety radio communications market.”

blog.tcomeng.com...

I also found the following blog that provides an interesting collection of links detailing the many problems reported all over the country regarding these Motorola “trunked” public safety radio systems.

blog.tcomeng.com...

reply to post by TZela


Curious as to why the police car sped off instead of talking to the rancher......what would be the point to take off like that if there is nothing to hide.

Hence, the "conspiracy"....

Are they really testing Motorola frequency, REALLY?!?!? Just saying.....

Do not know enough about US police and speed limits.

Here in the UK, I would have expected the cop car to stop and pull over the pursuing vehicle for a speed violation?

So was this an official car? Presumably not.(Unmarked police would simply call up a marked car for the arrest.)

Very suspicious indeed.

reply to post by dowot


Yes they were official unmarked highway state patrol cars. They "hired mostly retired law enforcement officers to drive the cars."

Thanks for the information TZ.

Still sounds rather strange. British cops never miss an easy catch.

reply to post by dowot


Private road, private property. In other words, the squad being pursued was not on a state route or interstate. Thus state speed limits do not apply. Farms and ranches out west can be pretty big, so their eqivalent of a driveway can be miles long. The guy pursuing just wanted to see who was trespassing on his property.

Maybe they are manned by Aliens...

Originally posted by pauljs75
reply to post by dowot

 

Private road, private property. In other words, the squad being pursued was not on a state route or interstate. Thus state speed limits do not apply. Farms and ranches out west can be pretty big, so their eqivalent of a driveway can be miles long. The guy pursuing just wanted to see who was trespassing on his property.

There is no indication that the unmarked cars were on private property. None. Zero. So that explanation does not relate to the case.

Out in the boonies of the farmlands, ranchers and the law usually are on a friendly relationship. But if one of the ranchers find an unmarked car whizzing along his area of the public road at a high speed, he is likely to take it upon himself to discover what is going on. An unmarked car traveling at 85 mph with no police-type lights FLASHing is technically breaking the law in most states and the independent, self-assured ranchers are damned-well determined to know what is happening in their neck of the woods. The people our there in the heartland are not liberals, people.

reply to post by Aliensun

There is no indication that the unmarked cars were on private property. None. Zero. So that explanation does not relate to the case.

The black, unmarked police cruiser, rolling slowly down the private gravel lane of a remote Nebraska ranch, looked suspicious enough.

I am thinking the "private gravel lane" was probably part of the rancher's own land. I do agree that they would not be the type of people to sit back and be passive when strange vehicles start appearing!

When the grocomole hits the fan - those radio's will before a high priority aquistion target - even though 70% of the Police who are Veterans are on our side - there is still 30% of the Young and Stupid and the sadistic asshole cops who are going to go along with this crap. and they will be backed up by >>>???? UN - NATO -- I doubt seriously there will be any US Military participating - but you never know.... when my son came back from Iraq he told me the they just want a pay check - they are well aware that the crap is wrong.

reply to post by TZela


Gave a star for the interesting subject you presented, wanted to give you a flag to promote more participation and increase visibility but will not due to the thread title...

OK - the stories aren't clear about something. Were these specific vehicles procured for ~this~ testing? In that case it makes no sense to me whatsoever unless these are DHS specified mobile command centers or something. Of which I can't find any similar story elsewhere.

The speeding away part is easy for me - anytime you put a person in an unmarked black Government vehicle they're suddenly Jason Bourne and that's what they do. Either throat-punch you or speed away. ;-)

My best guess, if any part of this story is to be believed, that the vehicles themselves have various TCSM gear inside of them so they were hoping to avoid any leaks about what is in them getting out. And/or the whole system, as the OP links to, is shoddy so they're worried that gear in the trucks will give away more of the known weaknesses. *shrug* -Mags

reply to post by Panic2k11


I'm pretty new here. Please suggest an appropriate title? I don't understand keeping something from others over a title but if I get more complaints I will change whatever I should.

Not for nothin, but 85 MPH on gravel is borderline insane...one twitch of the wheel and you're "off roading".

not sure why a black car would alarm or upset someone to the point of them chasing it. So what if they're testing a new radio.

reply to post by TXRabbit


It sounds like it didn't become alarming to them until the car sped away at high speed from their property. I am assuming the rancher was just approaching them to ask what they were doing on his property when they took offl.

It may be they were just testing radio signals and realized they were on a private lane when the rancher approached, and sped away because they knew they were not supposed to be on private property. Not a real smart way to handle things. Or maybe they were testing how the radio signals would be affected during a high speed chase, who knows?

The article led me to research the radio system being tested and what I found and posted about all the problems connected to it concerned me a lot. It probably could have been a thread of its own. It looks like politics are more important than quality, which should be the primary consideration when talking about public safety communications.