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Many are certain they're about to get a ticket when the 1995 white Crown Victoria pulls up behind them.

``It looks like a police patrol car with a light bar, 911 info on the side and everything,'' said Doug Walker of San Jose, one of a couple of dozen drivers who have called the Mercury News wanting to know about the vehicle. ``Except it says `Psycho Patrol' on the side. Can this be for real?''

Road scofflaws, relax. It's not what you fear.

The car belongs to Danny Kirby, a gentle 21-year-old San Jose fellow with a scraggly beard whom a friend describes as ``a party in a box.'' Kirby dresses up in a black and red uniform -- think Royal Canadian Mounted Police -- and loves the underground rap group Insane Clown Posse, whose hit songs include ``Beverly Kills'' and ``Cemetery Girl.''

But can this be legal?

Generally, a vehicle cannot have any signs, insignias or other markings that refer to the Department of Motor Vehicles or to any law enforcement or government agency. Nor can it be equipped with forward- or side-facing red lights or sirens.

So the Psycho Patrol passes legal muster.

``There are many private security vehicles that look like a police car,'' said San Jose police Sgt. Todd Carpenter. ``The crime of impersonating a law enforcement officer has more to do with their actions than a vehicle that looks like a police car.''

The story behind the Psycho Patrol began four years ago when Kirby spotted a cop car for sale on eBay. It had been sold by the Oregon state police to a company making a movie in Portland called ``The Hunted,'' a one-star thriller starring Tommy Lee Jones.

``You see my car rolling in the background a couple of times,'' Kirby said. ``It's cool.''

When police sell off cars, everything is usually stripped off. But eBay kept ``Portland Police'' on the side, the big, black crash bumper on the front, two radio antennae on the trunk, the 911 listings, emergency lights in the back window and a computer mount on the dash where Kirby sets his computer.

Never mind the 150,000 miles the car had racked up, the new transmission it needed or the new engine it would require. For $2,900, Danny boy had a real-looking cop car.

But little recognition, until last summer when his favorite rappers held a four-day outdoor concert in Ohio, including a contest by Psychopathic Records to see who had the coolest car.

The result: The Portland Police lettering was replaced by Psycho Patrol, and Kirby and a buddy were off on a three-week, cross-country trip.

The reaction: immediate.

Stopped by the California Highway Patrol for speeding on Interstate 80 near the Nevada border. Stopped by state troopers in Wyoming and Iowa who were pressing to see if he was trying to masquerade as a cop. Maybe six times he was pulled over. ``I lost count after awhile,'' he said.

On the return trip, more adventure: A tire fell off and started a fire, which Kirby put out by grabbing soda cans from a cooler and spraying root beer on the flames.

Towing charge home: $1,000.

Once the car was fixed, Kirby began driving the Psycho Patrol to work at K&K Music on San Carlos Street, where he sells sound and lighting equipment.

He drives the car on errands and to parties, like the one he was headed to on Halloween, following a friend whose car broke down on Samaritan Drive near Union Avenue. Kirby stopped behind the car and soon a real cop pulled up, asking the cop look-alike, ``What is going on here?''

``They'll ask why I have this car,'' said Kirby, who was wearing his Mountie-style uniform and hat, with sunglasses hanging from his shirt pocket. ``I never have a reason other than it's my car that I use every day.''

The cop laughed, sending Kirby on his way.

A deputy sheriff even took a photograph of himself with the Psycho Patrol.

Cady Wallace, a friend, has ridden with Kirby, and when young kids ``driving really fast or goofing off see us, they slow way down,'' she said. ``It's like, `Oh, God.' ''

Said Kirby: ``I could go 40 on the freeway and nobody will pass me.''

Kirby has worked as lighting stage man for local bands, but now he's thinking of a career as a police officer.

``That's one reason I got the car to begin with,'' Kirby said. ``That would be cool.''