Re: Questions
"3. Does Hastings get time off his sentence for not being very good at impersonating an officer?"
Judging by the description of the car and colours of the flashing lights, I suspect he knew the law and was attempting to create plausible deniability but once drawn in to conversation by his "victim", fell into the trap of either having to admit to being a private citizen or lie. He chose badly. I would guess that most civilians, on assuming he was a cop, would have slowed down as told and then felt relieved that they "got away with it".