Sorry for misspelling use, I was just tired at the time. For my story, basically I want the police to be watching a woman's house cause she is a witness, testifying in a case, and it's for her own protection to have a car watching her in case the people she is testifying against come to silence to her. However, in a situation like that, where a cop is called upon to watch for the night, would they watch the house from an unmarked car or marked? If it's marked the person coming to silence her will notice the car right away. But would the cop use one? Also I would just like one cop in this scene so could I make it believable that just one cop is watching the house and will call back up if something goes wrong? I asked a real cop this and he said that the police do not have the budget to watch a witness for a whole shift, so he cannot say what car would be used. But if somehow, a car could be used, does anyone know?
I am not a cop so this may be utter tosh, but in the "Movies" when a cop is staking out a criminal they use un-marked cars, and when they are sitting on a witness' house the use patrol cars. If you witness is also being used as bait then probably unmarked, but if it is just a protection thing just in case, probably marked as it would be a deterrent if nothing else.
It depends what country and region you are in as different countries and police departments would have different policies. It probably also depends what they want to achieve. Are they hoping to catch somebody who tries to interfere with the witness? If so, then they would need an unmarked car so the perpetrator would believe it is safe to approach the house. However, if they want to be there as a deterrent to prevent anybody from approaching at all, then they would be better off using a marked car so people know there is a police presence. So, the decision really depends on the motives of the police force and what you want to be the outcome of the situation.
Something you could have your cops do is just leave an empty cop car in front of the witness' house as a deterrent. It's not unreasonable to assume that any guy coming to whack the witness would retreat if they notice a police presence. The cops where I live use the same trick to discourage speeding.
