Must Know About *677

Catherine · **Posted:** Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:48 pm

I HOPE this isn't an urban legend, or a fluke making its email rounds, but my dear cousin, who lives in CA and drives alone all the time, sent this to me today:

MUST KNOW *677

I knew about the red light on cars, but not the *677.

It was about 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on.

(Lauren's parents have always told her never to pull over for an unmarked car on
the side of the road, but rather to wait until she gets to a gas station,
etc.)

Lauren had actually listened to her parents' advice, and promptly called *677 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was.

There weren't, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way.

Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind
her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car
behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground.

The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.

I never knew about the *677 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a
woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe & quiet place.

You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them such as put on
your hazard lights or call *677 like Lauren did.

Speaking to a service representative at **Bell** Mobility confirmed that
*677 was a direct link to OPP Dispatch. So, now it's your turn to let
your friends know about *677.

Catherine

Seamus · **Posted:** Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:07 am

Catherine wrote:

I HOPE this isn't an urban legend, or a fluke making its email rounds, but my dear cousin, who lives in CA and drives alone all the time, sent this to me today:

It is and it isn't true. How's that for a fuzzy grey area answer? :lol:

Check out The Knockoff Pullover at Snopes.

Snopes.com wrote:

We have no way of telling if this is an "actual true story and not one of those Internet stories that are passed on and on": the details given in the account aren't sufficient to assist us in confirming the tale, and searches through online news databases based on what little is included (that the incident happened in Virginia in the last week of December 2001) don't fetch any articles about an arrest made or charges laid in such a case. And some of the details in the story give us pause: Why didn't the fleeing woman speed up, flash her lights, or honk her horn to attract the attention of the police car in front of her? And how did the real police car fail to notice the warning lights of the phony, unmarked police car?

Whether this particular tale is true or not, women driving alone have been sexually assaulted by rapists pretending to be patrolmen (and in certain rare cases by actual police officers), so the advice it gives about not pulling over in deserted areas when signaled to do so by unmarked police vehicles is well worth heeding. Throw on your flashers, slow down, and keep driving until you get to a well-lit area where there are others about. Though you might subsequently be charged for failing to heed a police officer's commands, you will avoid the potential for harm. Call 911 and tell them what's happening, asking them to relay to the officer in pursuit your intent to continue traveling until a populated has been reached. (Although in some U.S. states, #77 on a cell phone will immediately connect you to that state's highway patrol, that code is not universal. Some states use #77, but others use *55, *47, or *HP, and some don't have any special code at all. Rather than frantically try to figure out which one will work in the area you're in, get around the problem by going straight to 911.)

Catherine · **Posted:** Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:59 am

Thanks, Seamus...I forget about Snopes all the time!

In early 1980, we had a fellow using this modus operandi in our area. Several women had fallen for his ruse. They had pulled over when they saw what they thought were police car lights, gotten themselves raped, and one woman had been shot and left for dead. The perp managed to elude police for about a month. Of course in those days, cell phones were not around, so I had several friends who were carrying little pistols in their purses, especially those women who worked the late shifts at local plants.

I tend to forget my cell phone more often than not, when I leave the house to run an errand or to visit my parents. :roll:

Catherine

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