Altima Cop Car

Ford Explorers is the most common police vehicle used by multiple agencies in my county.
They are not "Ford Explorers-but "Police Interceptors". This is important when you see the sales numbers by Ford. They used to break them out-but they don't now. So the PI's sales numbers get counted as Explorers.
 
So I own an upfitted 9C1 Caprice. The interior is different than the civilian versions. The drive train is a plain ole L77/6L80E just like every other civilian Caprice. OIl cooler, large transmission cooler which the civilian version uses. The only difference in the suspension is the springs. They are beefier for the added weight of the police equipment. I put Chevy SS springs on mine. The only other thing worth mentioning is it has a larger alternator with two batteries vs one.

Sorry I should clarify. The 9C1 body on frame Caprice vehicles up to 1996 have stiffer body mount bushing.

EDIT: My first post is in regards to the body on frame Caprice 9C1.
 
So I own an upfitted 9C1 Caprice. The interior is different than the civilian versions. The drive train is a plain ole L77/6L80E just like every other civilian Caprice. OIl cooler, large transmission cooler which the civilian version uses. The only difference in the suspension is the springs. They are beefier for the added weight of the police equipment. I put Chevy SS springs on mine. The only other thing worth mentioning is it has a larger alternator with two batteries vs one.
Well sure, not all vehicles have all upgrades. Again, budget is an issue.
Alternator and two batteries are given considering amount of stuff that runs on electricity.
 
In the area I live (DFW Texas) a lot of departments no longer pursue in chases. Once the helicopter is in the air with eyes on the suspect the ground patrol eases back and pursues in normal call procedures. So many innocent civilians have been killed by high speed police chase accidents. Again, that’s just the area I live. Yours may be different.

I've never seen or heard Illinois having police copters that join in on pursuits - I thought it was just SAR but some biker buddies of mine have said they'll break out the helos if they expect that weekend to be crazy. ISP here will definitely still go on high-speed pursuit chases though. Near the beginning of the lockdown, there was a ~20 mile chase after a robbery/murder and the culprits got nothing but a slap on the wrist.
 
I've never seen or heard Illinois having police copters that join in on pursuits - I thought it was just SAR but some biker buddies of mine have said they'll break out the helos if they expect that weekend to be crazy. ISP here will definitely still go on high-speed pursuit chases though. Near the beginning of the lockdown, there was a ~20 mile chase after a robbery/murder and the culprits got nothing but a slap on the wrist.


GSP has them around this area. They generally will only spin them up if we're doing a hard search for someone, not really for a chase, unless they already happen to be airborne and in the area.
 
Chargers are coming as far as I know with 5 speed transmission instead of ZF8. I think part of the reason is column mounted shifter. It undermines performance dramatically.
5 Speed and I can't remember if AWD was mandatory with that or an option. We've got a pile of 16's and 18's AWD V8's. They're not as fast as you'd think. My TL can keep up with one off the line. Don't know about top end though. Buy the time they get everything in them they are heavy pigs.

All of the new cars we're getting will be the 'Police Interceptor'(Explorer). Be interesting to see how those hold up.

Ohh, and plenty of our V8 Chargers tick, although I've got a V6 that I use for transports to and from the hospital that has something like 280,000 miles on it. It groans and moans, but it still starts and goes.
 
As far as high speed chasin'.

I ran library services for the blind and physically handicapped for Georgia in the early seventies. We were in an old farmer's market with surplus popular, a training facility for disabled and a department of education film library. A weigh scale was at the entrance and the facility was in the drive-by opening of the Claude Akins trucker series "Movin On" in the mid seventies. I'd come in to work late and the guard was often sleaping in the scale house with his gun out on the table next to his head. I'd try to sign in without having him shoot me. About twenty totaled state police cars were between my building and a chain link fence, they were cleaned out a couple of times a year and the process started again. Occasionally someone would jump the fence, hotwire a car and run through the fence. I remember the guard opening fire at the miscreant on a couple of occasions. I always figured a third of the cars were lost by hitting the miscreant, a third driving off the road, and a third hitting innocent bystanders.

About five years ago I ran into a South Dakota Highway Patrolman in a rest area on the way to the Black Hills and relived my seventies memories. He said they seldom wrecked cars because cars were better, they used technology rather than high speed chases, they were better trained then they were fifty years ago, and South Dakota was a bigger state with less than a tenth of the people in Georgia.

Maybe the Altimas represent a simple change in policing.

*As a librarian, I had to check sources on the Claude Akins thing, not in the intro of Movin On (on YouTube), must have been some filler b-roll in an episode.
 
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I suspect they are used for other than chase work. Patrol, responding to calls that are more calm such as noise, or investigating a break in after the fact and so on.

Sitting in school zones or similar, and just general patrol duties.

They probably have other vehicles for more demanding police work, or engage St Louis County Police for such tasks.

I see this as more of a community policing task and the more demanding crime fighting is done with other resources.

Just my impression.

As far as high speed chasin'.

I ran library services for the blind and physically handicapped for Georgia in the early seventies. We were in an old farmer's market with surplus popular, a training facility for disabled and a department of education film library. A weigh scale was at the entrance and the facility was in the drive-by opening of the Claude Akins trucker series "Movin On" in the mid seventies. I'd come in to work late and the guard was often sleaping in the scale house with his gun out on the table next to his head. I'd try to sign in without having him shoot me. About twenty totaled state police cars were between my building and a chain link fence, they were cleaned out a couple of times a year and the process started again. Occasionally someone would jump the fence, hotwire a car and run through the fence. I remember the guard opening fire at the miscreant on a couple of occasions. I always figured a third of the cars were lost by hitting the miscreant, a third driving off the road, and a third hitting innocent bystanders.

About five years ago I ran into a South Dakota Highway Patrolman in a rest area on the way to the Black Hills and relived my seventies memories. He said they seldom wrecked cars because cars were better, they used technology rather than high speed chases, they were better trained then they were fifty years ago, and South Dakota was a bigger state with less than a tenth of the people in Georgia.

Maybe the Altimas represent a simple change in policing.
 
Chargers are coming as far as I know with 5 speed transmission instead of ZF8. I think part of the reason is column mounted shifter. It undermines performance dramatically.

The 5 speed was supposed to be a lot stronger as well.
 
I suspect they are used for other than chase work. Patrol, responding to calls that are more calm such as noise, or investigating a break in after the fact and so on.

Sitting in school zones or similar, and just general patrol duties.

They probably have other vehicles for more demanding police work, or engage St Louis County Police for such tasks.

I see this as more of a community policing task and the more demanding crime fighting is done with other resources.

Just my impression.
Good call my guess is they will be used by school resource officers and traffic control near the town centers.
 
Chargers are coming as far as I know with 5 speed transmission instead of ZF8. I think part of the reason is column mounted shifter. It undermines performance dramatically.
In 2020 they finally ditched the 5 speed and gave them the 8 speed, and they can get the V8 in AWD. Might have to pick one up in a few years when they go to auction since they no longer sell AWD V8’s to the public.
 
Funny enough, police departments in the Middle East stick to body on frame construction when it comes to patrol vehicles. Sure, they have a few Dodge Charger Pursuits and only a handful of AWD Ford PI Sedans here and there, but their primary vehicles are now full-size SUVs after the Crown Victoria went away.

In Kuwait, patrol vehicles are Chevrolet Tahoes with very few Ford PI Sedans in between. Highway patrol heavily uses GMC Yukons with a very small number of Charger Pursuits. They have a very small number of older Nissan Patrols, most of which were test mules. Their equivalent of the Secret Service uses Yukon Denalis.
 
Reliability? I highly doubt it is more reliable than ZF8 or that it can take more torque. ZF8 is as best as it gets.

Might have also been that the ZF8 didn't work with the AWD system at the time. Looking at their 2021 offering it looks like they dropped the V8 AWD option. Its been long enough that I've forgotten the reason we were told.
 
Might have also been that the ZF8 didn't work with the AWD system at the time. Looking at their 2021 offering it looks like they dropped the V8 AWD option. Its been long enough that I've forgotten the reason we were told.
V8 AWD is available for police only. As far as I know ZF8 and AWD in FCA vehicles never had an issue.
 
V8 AWD is available for police only. As far as I know ZF8 and AWD in FCA vehicles never had an issue.


Not for 2021. Just the V6 AWD and V8 RWD is offered.


Even in 2018 they were all 5 speeds, for V6 and V8.

From a 2015 article:

" Why didn't the Charger Pursuit receive the new transmission? "We felt the five-speed remained the best setup for what police duty entails and what police needs are," Dodge tells Automobile. "It continues to perform functionally the way it should, so the decision was made to not make any changes for now."

Pretty lame reasoning.
 
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