Running racism in America thread

Almost all of the cop cars I see in my town are Mopars. I think the SUV cop cars — and why they need them is another matter entirely — might be Fords.

 

My town replaced its Crown Vics with Dodge Chargers, which proved poorly suited to police work and were disposed of in favor of SUVs.

Better move: Stop giving obsolete military hardware to local LE.

 

Looking more and more like first degree murder.

 

In Michigan I've seen a wide wide variety of cars converted for cop use. At one point I believe the state pigs had some Corvettes to run down the 120-mph space cowboys on I-94 and I-96. In the 90s they had Mustangs.

My understanding was the auto companies R&D departments had built the cop-car variations as test vehicles and donated them to the police departments on a yearly lend-lease basis with options to buy more if they wanted.

 

Had anyone ever heard of this goof before this?

 

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Florida Highway Patrol had a fleet of 5.0 Mustang notchbacks to supplement its Crown Victorias because the Crown Vics were badly sprung and terribly underpowered, and therefore useless for pursuit or speed enforcement. I believe a lot of agencies across the country had those Mustangs for similar reasons, and I know at one point in the late 1990s the Oregon State Police had V-8 Camaros (essentially Z28s without the decals) for the same reason.

 

I feel like I just overpaid for something.

 

I bought my Ford Explorer Sport in 2013. Test drove several vehicles, but this engine kicked the crap out of all of them. A 3.5-liter, 6-cylinder, twin turbo, 365 horsepower, 345 torque. When buying in April 2013, there were none available. All were sold to police departments, under the label Interceptor. Same vehicle. I waited 2 months for them to build me one and I got all the extras except the towing package and the TV screens for the second row passengers. Mine is silver, but from a distance with glare, it can look white. On the highway, I've seen cars change lanes if I was behind them because they thought I was Highway Patrol or Sheriff coming after them.
That year, just about every agency had them.

 

Since the Police Interceptor Crown Victoria was discontinued, it's mostly Ford Explorers and Dodge Chargers wherever you go. There's a GM line of law enforcement SUVs as well.

NYC has a couple of everything, including electrics and battered Chevy Impalas, Smart cars and the old Ford Taurus and the police Fusion.

To say nothing of the Cushman Truckster.

I do miss this paint job:

 

There was an episode of “Blue Bloods” where Jamie and Eddie had to use a SmartCar. Pretty funny.

 

Pennsylvania State Police are using the Ford Taurus and Explorers. As recently as two years ago you were still seeing some of the dog assed Crown Victorias.