Muscle mobility
The first publicly purchased police car in the United States was put into service in Akron, Ohio in 1899, about 60 years after the first publicly funded police department was created in Boston, Mass.
Manufactured by the Collins Buggy Co. of Akron, that first horseless police vehicle was powered by two, 4-horsepower electric motors that pushed the 5,000-pound behemoth to a top speed of 18 mph for up to 30 miles.
With seating for 12, it was called a squad car because it could carry a squad of officers to the scene of an emergency.
The Ford Police Interceptor Utility, which many police departments locally and across the country use, carries fewer officers, but can get them where they need to go much faster.
Reaching 60 mph in less than 6 seconds and a top speed approaching 150 mph with a 3-liter, twin-turbo charged engine producing 400 horsepower, the Interceptor gets about 17 miles per gallon of gasoline in the city and 22 on the highway for a combined 19 mpg.
Despite the disparity in performance and size, the Interceptor, based on the Explorer sport-utility vehicle, weighs only about 150 pounds less than the Collins did.
Ford claims it has 51% of the police vehicle market, but Chevrolet and Dodge also modify normal passenger vehicles for police use by installing heavy duty brakes and suspensions. Police departments in the county use vehicles from each of America's' Big Three automakers.“First and foremost is they are all-wheel drive,” said Sgt. Jeremy Walters of the Butler Police Department about the 2018 Ford Police Interceptor Utility he drives when on duty. “They're surprisingly agile.”Like all police vehicles, the Ford is equipped with heavy-duty brakes and suspension.“They withstand the beating a little better,” Walters said.Fast, emergency responses take a toll on vehicles, he added.Room for computers and equipment, and officers wearing bulky bulletproof vests and other gear, is another advantage of the Police Interceptor Utility, he said.The department has several Ford Police Interceptor Utility vehicles, a few Ford Police Interceptor Sedans and older vehicles. Ford stopped making the all-wheel drive sedan in 2019.Before the Fords, the department had several front-wheel drive Chevrolet Impala police vehicles, of which two remain in use.The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police version of the Crown Victoria, preceded the Chevys.“They were great cars,” Walters said. “They were tried and true. They were just a full-sized, good heavy-duty car. They took a beating.”Crown Victorias were widely used by police in the U.S. and Canada from 1983 to 2012. Like the current Police Interceptor Utility, the Crown Vic was designed to withstand a 75-mile-per-hour rear-end crash test.
In his 47 years in law enforcement, Jackson Township Police Chief Terry Seilhamer has driven many models of police vehicles, but his favorite is the early 1970s Plymouth Fury Pursuit he drove as a trooper during the early part of his 35-year career in the Pennsylvania State Police.“Those things were awesome,” Seilhamer said. “When you punched one of those, they took off. The Fury was king of the hill.“They would just rumble at red lights. You could tell there was something under the hood. They just had a rapid rate of acceleration.”The Fury had a 275-horsepower, 440-cubic-inch engine with a four-barrel carburetor as an option for the police models.During his time in the state police, the department used other police vehicles, including the Dodge St. Regis, Chevrolet Caprice and the Ford Crown Victoria. He said the Caprices came with high-performance LT1 engines that Chevy used in the Corvette.The township police department includes seven Ford Police Interceptor Utility vehicles and two Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs.The Tahoes carry portable truck weight scales that officers use to make sure trucks on Route 528 meet weight restrictions, he said.The SUVs handle well and provide enough room for officers, their gear and the laptop computers they use while on patrol, Seilhamer said.
The Cranberry Township Police Department has deployed pursuit rated, all-wheel drive Dodge Chargers and Durango SUVs since Ford discontinued the Crown Victoria, said Lt. Chuck Mascellino.“It's nice to have a mix in the fleet to fit the different people we have working for us,” Mascellino said.Both vehicles also have enough space for the equipment the officers use on duty, he added.Under the hood of the Dodges lie the famous Hemi engine. Rated at 370 horsepower in the Charger and 360 in the Durango, the powerful motors push the Charger to 60 mph in just under 6 seconds and a top speed of 149 mph. The Durango's speed to 60 mph is about 7.5 seconds and a top speed of nearly 120 mph.“Everything we have right now has the Hemi,” Mascellino said.He said the department considers cost and interior room when choosing new police vehicles, but the number of pursuit-rated vehicles on the market is limited.The Ford Police Interceptor Utility makes up most of the 1,500 state police patrol vehicles, said Ryan Tarkowski, communications director.
Some Ford Interceptor Sedans that were last purchased in 2017 remain in the fleet, but will be replaced with Police Interceptor Utility vehicles, he said.State police bought five 2020 hybrid patrol vehicles that will be field-tested in the next three to six months to see if they are suitable for widespread use. Hybrid vehicles have gasoline and electric engines.A major factor in testing will be whether the fuel savings will offset the higher initial cost of the hybrid vehicles, Tarkowski said.He said the state police rely on the result of performance tests conducted by the Michigan State Police and Los Angeles Sheriff's Department on new police vehicles when selecting vehicles for the fleet, and results of additional testing by Pennsylvania State Police driving instructors at the Academy Driving Range by state police instructors before models are deployed.
