Continuity mistake: When Sarah uses her shotgun to shoot the T-1000 in the eye, the first camera angle reveals that the shot has disfigured his head forcing the tissue around the eye to be pushed outwards as a result. In the next shot, when we can see Sarah through the hole as it 'heals', we can see that the head is already in its regular shape as the hole fills.
Continuity mistake: As the liquid nitrogen tanker crashes into the SWAT truck, the semi's right headlight is destroyed, but a second later it's back in position, and no damage to the nose of the semi at all.
Continuity mistake: After John gets off the bike, he looks at the Terminator's back and sees the holes in the jacket. John puts his finger in one hole, but when the view changes the finger is in another hole.
Continuity mistake: When Terminator shoots at the police from the Cyberdine window, from the angles in front he is in the middle of two window frames, yet from the angle shot from behind he is inches away from the left frame.
Continuity mistake: At Pescadero, after Terminator pushes a female guard away, John runs to Sarah and asks if she's okay. Her body is positioned pointing in an 8 o'clock direction first, and in the following shot in an 11 o'clock.
Continuity mistake: At Pescadero, when the female guard breaks Terminator's glasses, from the angle behind the left lens is pointing upwards, yet from the front it's downwards and the damage is greater.
Continuity mistake: When Sarah sees the Terminator coming out of the elevator and crawls backwards panicking, there's a thick line painted on the floor. When the angle changes and shows her standing up and running, the line is gone.
Continuity mistake: When Sarah is about to jam the syringe in the plastic jug, watch its label and notice it turns around between frames.
Continuity mistake: At the hospital, when Sarah is dreaming of Kyle and rests her hair on his left shoulder, her hair swaps from messy to brushed between shots.
Continuity mistake: When the T-1000 is on the police car's trunk, the hole he produces on the windshield increases and decreases in size between shots. (01:02:40)
Continuity mistake: Sarah takes the chip out of the Terminator's skull and places it by the edge of a table. In the next angle, it is several centimeters away from the edge.
Continuity mistake: In the police car after escaping from the T-1000, John's hair is moving to the left because of the wind. When the angle changes to a POV from the driver's seat, right when he says "I had to get you out of the place", his hair is moving wildly to the right, then a frame later, from a new angle, it's back to the previous mild movement to the opposite side.
Continuity mistake: When the fat cop is killed, blood on his nape and collar appears and disappears between shots.
Continuity mistake: When escaping out of the parking lot, John drives past the same blue pick-up truck twice.
Continuity mistake: John Connor comes out of the parking lot and appears right in the middle of the truck's lane, making the driver swerve to his left. From a close-up, the driver turns the wheel and straightens the truck and keeps on driving, but the following wide angle shows the truck swerved and the driver straightening it again.
Continuity mistake: The amount of ash on Sarah's cigarette during her review changes instantly. (00:23:20)
Continuity mistake: When John and Sarah are in the pick-up truck trying to outrun the overturned liquid nitrogen tanker, the driver's door of the pick-up truck goes from swinging open, to closed, to open again between shots.
Continuity mistake: When the Terminator shoots the T-1000's apart, in the shot of the T-1000 after the elevator door closes, Dr Silberman can be seen standing against a wall in the background. Then it cuts to the main trio in the elevator, but when it cuts back to the T-1000 and his head merges back together, Dr Silberman has suddenly disappeared. (01:02:40)
Continuity mistake: During the truck scene, when the truck has just come off the bridge, notice the sign on the right hand side says "24 hours." Seconds later the sign seems to have mysteriously disappeared.
Continuity mistake: When Sarah Connor throws the keys to a male orderly to distract him, Dr. Silberman is standing right behind him. Two shots later, we see the doctor several feet away. The time lapse between the two shots was only one or two seconds. (00:56:25)
Answer: He didn't steal his clothes, but copied them. He can only copy things that he physically touches. He had to touch the cop to take on his look. Also since the cop was a witness to this ruthless killing machine, it needed to kill him to protect itself from being discovered too soon. The Terminator is an infiltration unit on an assassination mission to kill John Connor. As advanced as it is, it needs as little attention drawn to it as possible. Having the entire police force chasing him down would not be ideal for his goal to get Connor and would inevitably slow him down and risk allowing Connor a better chance of escape. The T 1000 also is an emotionless machine programmed by other machines that are intent on killing off all humans in the future. It doesn't value human life, and if anything has been programmed to regard them as a pest to be dealt with. The cop was a means to an ends and an obstacle to take out. As well, the cop did also posses a weapon, and was the T-1000's quickest way to get his hands on a gun.
Quantom X ★