A criminal posing as a policeman in an unmarked police car is foiled when his victim calls the police on her cell phone.

See the email here.

Yes and no.

No, the apprehension of a suspected rapist described in the email can't be corroborated from news sources. The Urban Legend Zeitgeist could find no reported incident that closely matched the events described in the email.

Yes, dialing #77 or *77 on your cell phone will call the highway patrol, but only if you happen to be in an area that supports that feature. Not all state police dispatchers can be called with #77 (or *77).

So does this email offer sound advice? Taken as a whole, the Urban Legend Zeitgeist would have to say it could have been better done.

The email offers two pieces of substantive advice: calling #77 will connect you to the state police and if pulled over in an isolated area at night, you should proceed to well-lit, populated area.

Given that #77 is not universally available, better advice would have been to dial 911.

Crimes have been committed by people posing as policemen in unmarked police cars. And many police departments do recommend that if pulled over in secluded area at night that you drive slowly to the nearest safe area. Police also recommend indicating your intentions by turning on your emergency lights or turn signals. But this advice gets short shrift in the email's dramatic account but it's really the more important. It can be applied even if you don't have a cell phone or are in an area where #77 doesn't work.

Of course a sober description of what emergency telephone numbers and advice on how to handle being stopped by an unmarked police car would lack the dramatic zip of the email warning. Urban legends - and their first cousins, email scarelore - are often cautionary tales. And we're more likely to remember a dramatic story - whether or not it's true - than unadorned advice.

• Emergency Phone Numbers from Senior Drivers
• Dial #77 - Rapist Impersonates Police Officer from About.com
• The Knockoff Pullover from Snopes.com

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