Question of the Day - 05 February 2015

Your report came as news to Las Vegas Metro. "I’m not sure what they’re talking about," said Public Information Officer Laura Meltzer. We confess this sender's email was the first we'd heard of it, too, and a request for more information, like when and where specifically on the Strip, went unanswered.

Meltzer confirms that Metro does auction cars to the public, once they’ve reached certain mileage and performance benchmarks. These retired vehicles are stripped of their emergency gear and their decals before being re-sold. In fact, there just so happens to be one of Clark County's three annual Public Auctions coming up on Saturday, Feb. 28, an event which will feature the usual array of equipment no longer used or needed by various government agencies throughout Southern Nevada, plus up to 500 lost-and-found items from McCarran International Airport. Expect to find everything from laptops, iPads, and cameras, to heavy equipment, trucks, and cars, including -- yes! -- police vehicles, all coming under the hammer that day.

We're still curious as to where you saw "cop car cemetery" and if you were at the south or north end of the Strip/Las Vegas Boulevard. If at the northern end, perhaps the vehicles you saw were being gathered for this upcoming sale, which will take place, as usual, at 8 a.m. sharp at a storage yard located at 4320 Stephanie St. Visit the official website via the link above for further information and instructions on when you can preview and how to bid on any item that takes your fancy. If you can't make it to this one, there are two future sales planned for May 15 and November 21.

Without any more information, that's all we can come up with on this one. Next!

FURTHER CONFIRMATION, PLUS A GOOD POINT...:

• "Re: the dummy cruisers, NJ (State Police) have been at it for about 2 yrs on the Garden State Pkway. We call them "ghost" cruisers..."
• "Dummy cars? Interesting all those you have reported on have been in front of Caesars properties. I seriously doubt Metro would use these beat-down cars as 'dummy' cars. I truly think it may have something to do with Caesars and not Metro." [Ed: That would make sense of why Metro knew nothing about it... The plot thickens!]

MYSTERY SOLVED! We're awaiting (hopefully) confirmation from Metro on this, but a reader from Florida just wrote in with what seems like a plausible explanation; we're just bewildered that, if this is the case, the media/public information office was unaware of this practice. It sounds like it may be a new initiative however, since we've never heard of/seen/been asked about this before:

• "We use that type of vehicle here in Saint Petersburg, FL. They are known by personnel as 'dummy' cars but officially are known as High Visibility Vehicles. They are parked on busy thoroughfare and/or high-crime areas as a deterrent. Ours have full-visibility light bars but nothing else (radio, sirens, etc.) Just an FYI."

Some reader feedback -- this whole thing just gets curiouser and curiouser...

• "I don't have a question but saw the same thing this person did. Saw one car near Paris and the other in the alley near Cabo Wabo. One looked stripped and even had grease-pen writing on the hood. I assumed they were active cars, but since Metro officers were [patrolling] on foot, they used the oldest, most run-down cars to drive to the Strip and park, instead of a newer car better suited for patrol?" [Ed: We see your point, but doubt that Metro would ever be out officially in a car covered in graffiti??]
• "In reference to your QoD dated 2/5, we were in Las Vegas last week and the empty police cars were there, one in front of Caersars, one between Bally's and Paris, another at Planet Hollywood. They sat there all week empty. My wife and I questioned why they were there."
• "We saw the 'stripped-down' police cars 2 weeks ago in the driveway out front between the Flamingo and the Cromwell and also saw another parked in front of the fountains at Caesars Palace, directly across from the Flamingo Hotel."