Some official operations may involve plainclothes officers, unmarked vehicles, or coordination among agencies.

Exactly right. ICE is notorious for using unmarkeed vehicles. Look at the gang that killed Pretti. Does that bunch look like any sort of professional organization? Or do they look like a gang of vigilantes?

static01.nytimes.com - First shot mobile 2x

rawstory.com - Alex pretti

Some years ago, I saw a car on the highway that had a beehive on the roof, like a Michigan State Police Car, but it was black, with a gold stripe, not the "MSP blue" that I have known all my life. I was at an air show, where there were some Michigan State Police troopers, so I asked one about that black car. He said it was a tribute to the color scheme the MSP had used years before I was born. I commented to him that was dangerous, because, if one of those black cars tried to pull me over, I would not recognize it as MSP.

This is what the tribute cars looked like. They were produced in 2017. They only built 50 of them, with the vast majority being MSP blue. I have not seen one in years.

woodtv.com - Michigan state police black cruisers

This is what I expect MSP cars to look like.

cdn.shopify.com - Patrol car

There is a reason deer hunters wear bright orange: recognition, so they aren't mistaken for a deer in the undergrowth, and shot.

Steve