http://www.lohud.com/article/20091223/NEWS02/912230332/-1/newsfront...

Westchester County police will introduce a new "ghost car" Wednesday that is designed to sneak up on motorists who are talking on hand-held cell phones, text-messaging or driving without seat belts.

The car, a Crown Victoria like other police cars, is white and has no rack or lights on the roof. The county police decal on the side of the vehicle is another shade of white, rather than red and blue, to blend in with other traffic.

"We're actually calling it 'the ghost car,' " said Capt. Paul A. Stasaitis, commander of the patrol division. "It's what we call a low-profile unit. It's kind of a new concept for this area."

Stasaitis said police had been discussing problems with enforcing bans on cell phones and texting, and seat-belt violations, because drivers see patrol cars coming.

"If everybody sees the cop, nobody does anything wrong, so you don't catch the people you need to catch," Stasaitis said. "Drivers slow down, drop their texting device, then the minute you're past them, they go back to what they were doing. With this car, we've got more of a chance of catching violators, because it's not readily noticeable. Yet, when you do get close to it, you could tell it's a police car because of the markings."

Stasaitis said rather than relying on unmarked cars, which can be confused for someone posing as a police officer, the new car is clearly identifiable up close.

He said county Officer Jimmy Omeara noticed in a magazine that other departments nationally were starting to use these vehicles and suggested the idea to his department. The car doesn't cost more to make, because the decals are merely painted a different color, Stasaitis said.

Westchester police will start out by using just one ghost car for all of the county-patrolled highways.

"If this works, we'll definitely expand the program," Stasaitis said. "Not only will we have white cars out like this, but we could have any color car with similar colored decals."