A Washington state activist and former Republican congressional candidate recently filmed himself flagging down a police officer driving an unmarked vehicle and demanding to see identification.
In the video published on YouTube Oct. 14, Gavin Seim, who describes himself as a liberty speaker, pulls over the confused deputy in Grant County and proceeds to inform him that pulling people over in an unmarked car is against state law.
“This is my ID right here,” Deputy Canfield tells Mr. Seim in the video, pointing to the police patch on his uniform.
“That’s not ID, sir,” Mr. Seim counters. “If I showed you a badge if you stopped me, would you take that as ID? Come on. Let’s be reasonable. Anybody can have a patch, sir.”
The deputy then shows two forms of ID. He admits to Mr. Seim that he had been stopping people in the unmarked car.
“I’m not going to write you up today,” Mr. Seim says as an incredulous Mr. Canfield cracks a smile. “What I am going to encourage you to do is take this car back. I know you’re smiling, but we the citizens do have a right to hold you guys accountable. I could call a sheriff out here and demand that you be written up for this because you are in open violation of Washington State RCWs.”
The exchange remains polite and Mr. Seim sends the deputy off with a “you be safe out there.”
The activist later explained on his website why he chose to pull Mr. Canfield over, Mediaite reported.
“Unmarked vehicles are a ripe opportunity for confusion in a citizens reaction and for criminals to impersonate lawful authority to get people to stop,” he wrote. “People have been raped and even murdered because of this, so the law is good sense.”
