Police vehicles in the United States

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See also: Policing in the United States

A Ford Crown Victoria in service with the NYPD.

Police vehicles in the United States are made by several manufacturers and are available in three broad vehicle types:

• Police Package Vehicles (PPV) are the most common police cars and are equipped to handle the vast majority of tasks;
• Special Service Vehicles (SSV) and Special Service Package (SSP) are specialized vehicles such as SUVs and sports cars and are generally used for specific tasks such as rescue or pursuit.

Contents 1 Models by manufacturer 1.1 Ford 1.2 General Motors 1.3 DaimlerChrysler 1.4 American Motors (now part of DaimlerChrysler) 2 Other police vehicles 2.1 D.A.R.E.

[edit] Models by manufacturer

[edit] Ford

• Ford Crown Victoria (a large majority of the police forces in North America use the Ford Crown Victoria as the standard squad car)
  • Ford LTD/LTD-S/LTD Crown Victoria (PPV; 1979-1991)
  • Ford Crown Victoria (PPV; 1992-1997)
  • Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (CVPI) (PPV; 1998-2006)
• Ford Explorer (SSV)
• Ford Expedition (SSV)
• Ford Excursion (SSV)
• Ford Taurus (frequently used by U.S. police forces, PPV from 1990 to 1995)
• Ford Mustang (Used primarily for interstate speeding enforcement, SSP from 1982 to 1993)
• Mercury Marquis (PPV from 1979 to 1981)

[edit] General Motors

• Chevrolet Camaro (SSP; 1991-2002)
• Chevrolet Celebrity (SSP; 1984-1986)
• Chevrolet Express (SSP; Prisioner Transport)
• Chevrolet Impala
  • Chevrolet Impala/Caprice (PPV; 1977-1990)
  • Chevrolet Caprice (PPV; 1991-1996)
  • Chevrolet Impala (PPV; 2000-2005)
  • Chevrolet Impala (PPV; 2006-*)
• Chevrolet Lumina (PPV; 1995-2001)
• Chevrolet Malibu (PPV; 1979-1983)
• Chevrolet Tahoe (PPV; 1997-1999)
• Chevrolet Tahoe (SSP; 2001-2005)
• Chevrolet Tahoe (PPV; 2005-2006)
• Chevrolet Trailblazer (not a PPV/SSV)
• Chevrolet Suburban (frequently used by U.S. police forces)
• Hummer H1 (SSV) (used by Virginia Beach, Virginia, Chicago, Hollywood, Florida, and New York )
• GMC Yukon (not a PPV/SSV)
• GMC Yukon XL (not a PPV/SSV)

[edit] DaimlerChrysler

• Chrysler Sebring (SSV)
• Dodge Intrepid (PPV from 1997 to 2004)
• Dodge Durango (PPV)
• Dodge Charger (PPV from 2006)
• Dodge Magnum (PPV from 2006)
• Jeep Cherokee (frequently used by U.S. police forces, PPV from 1992 to 2001)
• Plymouth Fury 1960s, 1970s
• Dodge Monaco 1960s, 1970s
• Plymouth Gran Fury 1970s
• Plymouth Satellite 1960s, 1970s
• Dodge Diplomat (frequently used by U.S. police forces, PPV from 1977-1989
• Plymouth Gran Fury(frequently used by U.S. police forces in original configuration, PPV from 1977-1989

[edit] American Motors (now part of DaimlerChrysler)

• AMC Matador 1972 to 1974, mostly Los Angeles Police Department
• AMC Javelin 1970s, used by the Alabama State Police

[edit] Other police vehicles

A few police departments use alternative police vehicles.

• Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Police department has several Chevrolet Corvettes [1] [2]
• Colfax, Washington police uses a Subaru Outback sedan [3] [4].
• Kitsap County (Washington) Sheriff's Office uses an unmarked 2006 Subaru Legacy GT sedan for traffic enforcement.
• The sheriff's department in Outagamie County, Wisconsin tested an unmarked 2005 Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle for non-patrol use in 2005. [5]
• The Santa Clara County (California) Sheriff's Office has several unmarked Toyota Camrys, primarily for use by the auto-theft unit. [6]
• The Lone Tree, Colorado Police Department purchased two Hummer H3s in 2006.
• The Central City, Colorado Police Department has three such vehicles in its fleet. [7]
• The resort towns of Vail, Colorado and Aspen, Colorado used Saab sedans and hatchbacks as their standard patrol car for over 25 years. Vail started replacing them with Ford Explorers in late 2003, and Aspen began replacing them in late 2005 with Volvo XC90s. [8] [9]
• The Ithaca, New York Police Department uses a Volkswagen Beetle as the patrol car in the downtown "Commons" area.
• The South Carolina Highway Patrol used three BMW M5s during the early to mid 1990s. These cars were given to South Carolina after BMW chose the state to host their first assembly plant in the U.S.
• During the mid-1980s, the Missouri City, TX Police Department used a few Volvo 240s.
• Fremont Police use three Toyota Tacomas given to the city by the NUMMI Plant (which manufactures Toyota trucks) since the NUMMI Plant is located in Fremont, CA.

• The Georgia State Patrol used BMW 3 series for patrol use during the 1996 Olympics
• The Honolulu Police Department and The Hawai'i County Police Department supplements its fleet of marked patrol cars by allowing the use of the personally owned vehicles of police officers which are partially subsidized by department funds. These include not only American cars but Japanese cars such as the Toyota 4Runner and Camry, Honda Pilot, Nissan Altima, XTerra and Murano.[10]

[edit] D.A.R.E.

A number of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programs in local police departments have some notable vehicles marked as police cars to promote the program. The DARE cars appear at schools and in parades. Typically these cars are high-end or performance cars that have been seized in a drug raid. They are used to send the message that drug dealers forfeit all their glamorous trappings when they get caught. Cars include the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, and Humvee.

DARE cars can also be regular police vehicles that are nearing the end of their service life that are pressed into service for the promotion.