They keep them around so they will have some way of hauling off all your guns when they come pay you a visit.

Why?? does the P/U only have 1 seat in it? Many places transport without a "cage" with the arrested person in the R/F passenger seat. There are pro's and cons to this type of transport, some feel it allows the officer to better "monitor" the prisoner.

We have some locally for recreation patrol, you know boats, atvs, and snowmobiles. They also have a "range truck".

They are also used for community officers, DARE officers, and sometimes with SUV's as mini mobile command posts. The pick ups are often less expensive, and less capable on the road, but better at getting off-road, dirt roading, or transporing stuff.

Highway patrol has got em here in Texas too. Brand new Fords...at least they know how to pick a vehicle.

I figure they are used if they ever need to go somplace one of the cruisers cant, which is a lot of places in rural Texas and I assume Georgia as well.

They used to have a few Broncos. I know on more than one occasion I saw the Broncos pulling one of the cruisers out of a muddy median that was a little too wet to cross. Always, made me kind of laugh....what could be funnier than seeing a HI-PO trying to pull you over getting stuck in the mud turning around?

Michael

Police vehicles are used for many things other than transporting prisoners. Pick up trucks as we all know are handy for many things not the least of which is hauling stuff. My guess is that's what its for. When I was a kid the Akron P.D. had police marked Tow trucks, now thats done by private contractors. The local S.O. has a few pick ups including a Ford 1 ton crew cab 4x4 diesel with dullies that they pull their mobile command post(5th wheel R.V.)with. I doubt that your S.O. does patrol work with a pick up truck I'm sure it's just around for whatever they need to haul so they don't have to use another county vehicle.

Here in North Texas DPS is using them for DOT enforcement. They are carrying portable scales to weigh 18 wheelers. I have a feeling as we see more Mexican trucks on our roads these trucks are going to be seen more and more. Freaked me out the first time I saw one too. If they are going to be using SUV's for patrol work why not a pickup for other duties.

A sheriff here used pickups as an election platform.  Said they weould look better, do a better job, and have a better trade in value - cheaper in the long run.  Found out later that he pushed all the maintnence of the pickups under the jail's budget.  Cheaper - yeah, right!

But for rural areas, they do jobs that cars are incapable of.  We do need them, but Politicians shouldn't have have to lie about them - whoops sillly me - asking politicians to not lie!  and specially about getting Law Enforcement Officers equipment they needed to do thier job anyway.  The public will scream and cry one way or the other....... [B)]

The reason you see so many police pickup trucks around is that the only rear-wheel drive V8 sedan in production in the US right now is the Ford Crown Victoria.  And it has very serious flaws, specifically a inadaquate rear suspension that cant handle the load of gear police carry, and a problem with the geometry of the driveline that causes the driveshaft to snap off the rear end at the yoke.  Add to this the iherant weeknesses of the Ford Romeo V8 and the result is a police cruser that is grossly inadaquit in performance and questionably safe.

So some police departments are looking for something- anything- else to drive other than that piece of trash that doesnt require them to give up their irrational prejudice against front-wheel drive cars.  So they have turned to SUV's and extended cab pickup trucks, since they still have big V8's and rear wheel drive.

A 4door 02' Dodge Dakota 1/2 ton with the 4.7ltr V8 will do a honest 155 miles an hour.  Since the Crown Vics have to be electronically governend to 120 to keep them from breaking drive shafts- and could only manage 135 before that, you can see the attraction.

What is stupid is that the front drive 3.5L V6 Dodge Intrepid R/T will do 165, has more room inside than the Crown Vic, better brakes, a better transmission and doenst snap parts off itself and has 30 more Hp and about 30 more pounds feet- but no Police department has even asked to test one.  Its front drive and a V6 so they wont touch it.  Amazing when you consider that Chrysler had about 70 percent of the Police car market in the early 1970's, and that many PD's do use the front drive V6 Dodge Caravan.

The local city police here have a couple of pickups.  They're both 2wd, so offroad isn't why they bought them.  I've seen one often at schools (some sort of DARE program?), and I often see the other one towing a trailor with a lawnmower.  That's a major waste.  A fully-outfitted police car driven by an officer to carry a lawnmower.

Of course, pick-ups are a lot better choice of a patrol vehicle than the new Impalas that the SC Highway Patrol just bought.  They don't have that many, but I've already seen three broken down on the side of the road.  One overheated from running the engine while parked.  That makes the Impala useless for a lot of what their tasks, because they very often end-up parked in one spot for hours with the lights going, e.g. traffic control for football games or at accidents.  The local Chevy dealer has already said no to selling more of them to the police, because they claimed they were losing money on the warranty service.  A full-size pick-up is a lot better choice than an undersized, underpowered (6 cyl), front wheel drive.

Wow, I wouldnt of thought that the Impala, which is only a couple year old design, would of had those kid of problems.  The Ford Taurus police package had that problem, but they havent made one of those in a couple of years.  Theoreticaly, V6's should produce less heat than V8's, however engineers trying to cut corners often use that as a excuse to install wayy too small cooling systems.

But supposedly in 03' the Impala and Monte Carlo are going to become V8's again- Chevrolet is getting the car originally designed by Oldsmobile to be the next generation Aurora, and it will have the 4.0 V8.  And in 04 there will be a new Dodge Daytona with a 5.6L "MiniHemi" V8 and it may be rear wheel drive as well, though it might be all wheel drive.  Its platform mate, the Chrysler 300N will probably have all wheel drive as at least a option.

Just saw a couple the other day.

Sounds like someone who doesn't like Ford and does like Chrysler.  I drive neither, so it doesn't matter, but that's all this is.  If all this were true, you would see a lot more Intrepids and a lot less Crown Vic's.  As for V6 Intrepid doing 165, I scoff at that.  Same with the Dakota doing 155.  Obviously, you like Chrysler, but these speed claims are ludicrous.

Why wouldn't the Impala have those problems?  Because it's GM????  

Are you saying that the Aurora is rear wheel drive?  If so, that is incorrect.  

That Daytona with a 5.6 hemi better be rear wheel drive, otherwise you won't be able to hold on to the steering wheel.

The next town down the road from me The PD got a Chevy what ever they call it now,was called a Suburban, Looks like a Yukon, and that's what they drive around in....  We just have a unmarked Crown Vic and a Monte Carlo, Have no idea why they got that, it doesn't snow that much here...

The City near hear has a couple S10 Blazers, and a new suburban for the Fire Police.

Out Where I lived in Rollinsville, CO a few years back I used drive up Rollins Pass to hike at the Divide, the Local PD their patrolled the dirt road on a Honda 4 wheeler, it was neat had a mini light bar and everything...

No, I said nothing about the present or former Aurora being rear wheel drive.  Once Oldsmobile goes the way of the Dodo at the end of 03, what would have been the next gen Aurora will be the Monte as a 2dr and the Impala as a 4dr.

And front wheel drive works just fine with large V8's, the first US front drive car was the Pontiac Tempest- with a 421. Later the same driveline was used with 455's.  Olds 88's in the late sixties/early 70's were front drive with a 472, and of course ALL of the famous 500cid Cadillacs were front drive.  Cadillac currently doesnt HAVE a rear wheel drive car, so all those equipped with the Northstar 4.9, including the 300hp Seville STS, are front drive.

Acutally I was being nice and trying not to start a Ford/GM/DC pissing contest.  And anymore, Fords quality has gone down hill quite rapidly since the British took it over too.  I am a Mopar partisan myself. Chevys, of all models, have had consistant problems with engine and transmission cooling for the last 40 odd years.

Fords consistant bug of the last 30 years has been engine fires.  

Except for the bankrupsy years of the 1970's Dodges have always been better built and engineered cars than Chevy's and Fords- That is why in 1973 50% of the police cars bought that year were Dodge Monaco's (aka the "Blues Mobile" from the [i]Blues Brothers[/i])- and another 20% were the identical Plymouth Gran Fury.

Right now the best Police cruser would be- a Dodge Ram 1500 4dr 2wd with either the new 4.7L OHC or the old 360 Magnum (the 4.7L gets better gas mileage, otherwise performance is identical) and a locking 3 panel bed cover. Rear seats for the prisoners and still pleanty of room to store hundreds of pounds of gear in back.  The GMC 1500 would be second choice, GMC has become semi-autonomus again and their build quality has gone way up, they are trying very hard to once again be the Cadallac of trucks.  Both the F150 and F250SD suck, I know because by Dad has the misfortune of having to try and keep them running for people at the Ford dealership in Wickenburg AZ.  Fortunately it is also a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealer as well as a Ford dealership and the difference on the amount of warrenty work that they do- and redo- for Fords as opposed to Chrysler products is astounding.

Whoops, I made a mistake, the Olds Toronado was the first US front drive car. Not the Tempest.  My apologies to both Pontiac and Oldsmobile affecionados.  I am not half as good as my old man is at old car identification.

Cool! In Ohio right?  Whereabouts?

ArmdLbrl,
One of the PD's I work for has an Intrepid for a chief's car and another a few miles away has one for a cruiser. To a person, almost all that have driven them state they make pitiful cruisers. My PD's chief's car was used for a while as an unmarked unit and was driven every weekend to keep an eye on the drunks at the local bars. Within a year the front end needed rebuilt because it couldn't handle things like hopping curbs and the high-speed takeoffs officers use when they turn on cars going the other way. The town nearby thet uses an Intrepid for a cruiser has had the front end rebuilt twice, or so I've heard, for the same thing. Admittedly they are fast, but just fast doesn't a cruiser make. Could they both have been lemons? Possibly. I doubt it, myself, but possible. Not to say the newer Crown Vics are much better, mind you.

Bub

No it makes sense.  The Intrepids are known for being easily knocked out of alignment. The 00-current ones are better than the original 93-99 cars, but the problem has not been solved entirely. They still drive the same, they just eat front tires at a rapid and expensive rate.

Crown Vics are probably just as prone to getting their front ends knocked out of line.  But since the Dodges have power running through those wheels, what would be just a slight cockeyed wear- easily corrected by rotating the tire to the rear- instead destroys one edge of the tire inside of 10,000 miles.  Well before most people check. Rotating tires every time you change the oil helps, but doenst eliminate the problem

If this is what is happening to all front drive cars in police service, its no wonder they are trying out trucks.  A truck is the only thing built today that could take that kind of abuse and not be knocked out of alignment.

As a road car the Crown Vic isnt that bad, far and away better than the Taurus.  But normal people dont drive them through fields and over curbs and medians with 500 pounds of gear in the trunk, at 100+ miles per hour.  They make a great taxi cab, but in spite of their reputation taxi drivers generally take better than aveage care of their cars while cops usually think that because its a government car its disposable.  The Grand Marquis from Mercury generally gets better put togeather interiors than the Fords do, so if you are thinking of buying one get the Merc. Mechanically those two and the Lincoln Town Car, which has a different body on the same chasses, are the three most problem free cars Ford Motor Co. makes these days.

There have been persistant rumors that Ford was going to quit production of the Crown Vic and its siblings.  The first time was when Chevy quit building Caprices, then they surfaced again when the Navagator/Excursion came out. But so far there has been no official word from Ford, in fact there has been no hint at all about what Ford is going to do when it comes time for the 03 model year, by which time the current car will be 12 years old. There are already 02 Crown Vics and Grand Marquis on the lot at my Dads work, so they wont be stopping this year.

Ha, ha....yeah.  Hope they don't to anything rough w/ them pretty boy mobiles; the damn things'll rattle apart faster than hell.

Like someone else said V8 and rear wheel drive.  The auto makers wanted to get stupid and quit making cars tailored to police use.  The cops just found a substitute.  With a lot of the extend cab trucks coming with 3rd and 4th doors, a prisoner can easily be secured in the backseat.  I did hear about some sheriff in Mississippi putting eye bolts in the floor of the bed to secure leg irons to when he had to haul off a pile of trouble makers from a festival.  My Dodge patrol truck will do 120 MPH with ease.

Which one did they give you, Ram or Dak? And what engine?

And the whole pickup/SUV fad across the country is because people want Large Autos.  After two decades of being forced to live with small cars because of fuel economy and air quality concerns they have realised that small cars suck. They make it harder to carry things, are less comfortable, and [i]less safe[/i]. By exploiting the loopholes that commercial and farm interests got put in at the begining to protect trucks from the costly improvements cars had to make, the automakers have found a way- at last- to give the public what it has really wanted all along.

What gets me now are this whiny Green Party types complaining how their little PC Civics and Corollas are getting [i]crushed[/i] with fatal results, when they collide with a full-size truck or SUV!  So instead of getting themselves a bigger safer car- [i]they want the SUV's shrunk down or outlawed[/i]. Hello!  Why dont you take your arms from around that tree and think of your family for a change!

I thought the Tempest was Independent Rear Suspension with rear wheel drive, and the Caddy Elderado was the First FWD, I think it also had a 502...
  Thats what I thought, although I wasn't born when the Elderado came out... but i did see one in the boneyard.[thinking]

You are correct, I got confused, I did go back and note that in the bottom of the post. It was the Toronado that was the first US built FWD car.  Tempest was the first with IRS and a combined transmission/final drive at the rear for better weight distribution.

I happen to like the looks of the pickups on patrol, but my concern is that in a pursuit, they will be unstable in a corner or adverse conditions.  A few years back a local Sheriffs deputy was in a Bronco and lost it, it killed him.
Another concern is the price, a Crown Vic is usually a little cheaper than a 4x4 extended cab pickup.

I know that the Suffolk County, New York Police Dept. has at least 1 HUMMER Police Vehicle patrolling the beach areas in the Hamptons!!!

No Shit.

As of the 2001 model year, Ford no longer calls their full size sedan with the police package a Crown Vic, it has been renamed the "Police Inteceptor". Marketing ploy no doubt, but it did get 20 more hp. As far as front wheel drive cars, we've converted from the Dodge Intrepid to the Impala. The Dodge was never really setup well as a police vehicle and broke down often.
The Chev has performed well so far, and it is fast. Hopefully I'll not have to give up my 2000 CV anytime soon because I prefer the full size car. Driving a patrol pickup would be out of the question unless it was equipped with a caged camper shell.
Mike

Sounds like South Carolina.  Was going down I26 one day towards Charleston in my RX7.  Saw a silver Bimmer coming up kind of fast.  Dropped down a gear, getting ready to play.  He pulled up alongside and I say "South Carolina State Patrol" or something to that effect.  Eased tranny back into fifth, waved at him, and relaxed.  It turns out that BMW gives a certain number of sedans to the state of SC each year to be used as cruisers as part of the deal to build a BMW plant in Greer.

Why oh why did GM stop making the Caprice?  It was such a great car.

GunLvr

ArmdLiberal,

My PD has both CV's, and Intrepids, and the DODGE's suck, and where in the world did you get experience that says a front wheel drive car will hold up to LE work?  

CV's governed?, you are reading too much crap from the net!  My 2000 Police Interceptor was doing WAY over 120 last month on I-85 SB from Atl.

PD's use pickups for many reasons, above all, they're handy.  Evidence that wont fit in a car, goes in a P/U.  All those traffic cones, signs, etc, in the P/U.  All that range gear, targets, etc, in the P/U.  Off road crime scene, hope your P/U has 4x4

Geez,  

By God, It's so simple. Them there pickem up trucks are used for one thing and one thing only...Donut runs.

I'll guarantee ya.

Roy Damn Mercer

P.S. If you are offended, then stay right there...I'm a comin' to whoop your ass!

Well, the mistake there was that it was a SUV, they have taller, heavier bodies mounted on the shortest narrowist available chasses. If you are going to use a truck to substitute for a Police Cruser, you need to stick to pickups and avoid the SUV bodies.  Use the SUV bodies only if they are going to be driving mostly off road. Usually you wont need 4wd so save the weight and leave it off.  A Crew Cab pickup has enough seats for the job, and all three makers build them on the same frame as a standard cab with 8ft bed, with the lower 2wd suspensions and low profile car tires instead of off road truck tires and they will handle just like a 1970's car. Maybe a little better.  

Then your Vicky still has its original dirveshaft yoke.  Fords "fix" is to wait untill the yoke breaks, then when the car is in to have it replaced they reset the engine managment EPROM to limit the car to 123mph.  They already tried a rear suspension upgrade kit before that.  I know this because all of the City of Wickenburg PD Crown Victorias have been towed in into the shop where my Dad works, and he wrote the work orders for them.

The Arizona DPS had to have spring update kits installed on their 2001's, and until then the Department imposed a strict limit on how much weight could be put into the trunk.  Their Officers have been careful to keep their cars intact, at least the three stationed in Wickenburg, but they have complained that they feel restricted in what they can do cause they dont trust them to hold togeather in a chase over back country roads. The TSB that came with the spring update kit said that if the yokes break after the spring update kits are fitted, they are to reprogram the cars just like the 00's.

This problem is linked to how low the rear end is pushed down when the trunk and gas tank are fully loaded.  If your department doesnt require you to carry much in the trunk you can get by. Arizona DPS normally carries 500 pounds of gear in their trunk, including a full-size spare, 5gal of water, tool kit, desert survival supplies, first aid kit and a M14.

The Intrepid is a far better [i]car[/i] than the CV, in all performance catagories.  But you have to stay off the curbs and stay on the pavement or you will bend their control arms. If you want to go off roading, get a Dakota or a Ram, they will take that kind of abuse. If you want to go fast than get the Intrepid (although the trucks are almost as fast).

You know this post has been a revilation, I didnt know this many PD's had Intrepids.  Most of the ones here in AZ or back in CA only have rear drive V8 cars and trucks. I have never actually laid eyes on a Police Intrepid, only seen pictures of one from the SEMA show in Vegas.

Everybody

1997 CV (old body style) 15" wheels 3.27(?) rear gear. Electronic traction assist (applies rear brakes to control wheel spin only under 35 mph) No top speed limiter.

1998 CV 16" tires 3.55 rear gear electronic traction control.(applies rear brakes and cuts out the motor to keep rear wheels from spinning-at ANY speed) 129 mph top speed limiter

1999 PI 16 tires 3.55 rear gear, limited slip rear differential. Speed limiter originally set at 126 later bumped back to 120, can be reset per Ford to 129 with new rear tranny rebuild. Slightly upgraded rear suspension.

2000 PI 16" tires 3.73 rear gear, limited slip rear differential. 129 mph top speed limiter, engine runs out of revs at about rev limiter anyway.

2001 PI 16" tires 3.55 rear end, limited slip rear differential  129 mph top speed limiter. 235hp, 20 over previous years, 15 less ft lb of torque. Supposed to have much better acceleration at any speed, compared to other CV/PI's.

Ford is rumored to be trying to get to 260 hp with the 4.6L SOHC engine. The eventual goal is rumored to be a 280 hp PI.

I will agree that the Bronco is an SUV and more unstable, but most of the police trucks around here (New Mexico) are 4 wheel drive.  A 2 wheel drive with high speed radials would make an awesome pursuit vehicle, but these 4 wheel drives pretty much handle like a small apartment complex in a mudslide, compared to a sedan.

Chevy quit making the Caprise. So now LE is limited to the Crown vic or some form of truck.

You would not believe the amount of crap a cop has to haul around everyday in the trunk, small cars dont work.

Get the best of all worlds...

Dodge Dakota R/T.  who doesnt love a pickup with 4 wheel drive, a 5.9L V8, and a sporty suspension?

that is one FAST pickup truck.  Never seen a truck move so fast in my life.  Really hung with my car, 2001 stratus R/T, which does 0-60 in the low 6's.

Scared the shit out of me...

Ford spent 5 years and 1.5 [i]billion[/i] dollars designing the Romeo OHC V8 to replace the Windsor small block.  And they somehow managed to completly botch the whole job.  They were finally forced to release it, because they couldnt afford not to.  Its first year the single exhaust version delived only [i]190[/i]hp!  The 302's available in the F150 and Mustang that year already gave 225!  The dual exhaust version produced just 220hp.  That was in 94 IIRC and Chrysler was getting 217hp out of a 3.5L V6.

Now after six years and several hundred million more dollars- plus paying off a class action suit from angry Mustang owners- They are just now getting up to 260hp- and Chrysler is getting 250hp from a 3.2L V6 this year, and 220 from their 2.7L.

They 4.0L V8 in the Aurora is good for 240hp and Fords own Jaguar division has a 4.0 V8 that does 280 hp. The Caddies 4.9L is supposedly up to 320 for this year. How Ford managed, after all that time and money, to screw up that engine so bad- I cant even begin to figure out.

The Milwaukee County Sheriffs Dept. is using Chevys Caprice replacement.  It's a Chevy Tahoe, basically a shortened full size Suburban.  They way they look, they have a HD suspension, cheap wheels, a cheap interior (rubber floor, etc.)  They are two wheel drive so they aren't that high off the ground.  They look kinf of weird, like a kids hot rod, they have kind of a "nose down" stance, but would have no problem hopping curbs and such.  I believe they are equipped with the 5.7L V-8, heavy duty cooling and charging systems, etc...
I saw an article on them a few years ago...it listed what was included with the "police package" but I forget now.  I think it may have been in Popular Mechanics.

They have a Dodge Ram or two in Denton County.  Nice choice, if you ask me. [:D]