Police dodge Durango's

[Tdbo]

Go to your state purchase and bid contracts. You can find the Patrol Car specifications. A lot of states are specifying AWD Patrol cars. That could be the reason that many state police cars are Explorers, Durangos, and Tahoes. Local agencies will piggyback off of the state specifications. Any legitimate auto dealership is welcome to bid. The low bidder usually wins out.

The Explorer, Durango, and Tahoe are about the only vehicles that offer what is considered a true police package AFAIK.
I think that the Expedition and Suburban also can be ordered with police packages as well.
There are a few other vehicles, such as the Equinox and the Traverse, offer a heavy duty package, that some jurisdictions may buy for non patrol duties. They are not rated for patrol duties, however.
Chargers were the last sedan option for police work.
Without a doubt, they were also the low bid option for many departments.
I saw that one of the adjoining counties just bought 4 Explorers. Cost upfitted was just shy of 90K each.

 

[JustinH]

Worked in law enforcement IT for 5 years. Drove all the cars. Seen which ones went to the shop. I left that job about 5 years ago, so my comments are a bit dated.

Police Chargers with Hemi were the worst. Always in for service.

Police Caprice (Holden) were more reliable but it was hard to get certain parts (From Australia I presume), especially crash parts.

Both Sedans were turned in for Ford Explorer non turbo, non ecoboost, and everyone liked them head and shoulders over the sedans.

Patrol would get assigned Explorer non turbo, the suits would get assigned Tahoe PPV.

Tahoe is the best of the bunch not even close.

We were a small but wealthy suburb in Texas so they got pretty much whatever they wanted.

You guys will think its lying, but I used to work on the computers while the cars were at the city owned shop, I would check out the shop practices including lubricants used.. They would get barrels of Schafer's full syn motor oil, and would pour to spec. At the time it was 5w20, or whatever Dexos was at that time.

All brakes and wear parts came from Orilley delivery.

My moral of the story is don't buy a used police car, someone has been living in that car 12 hour shifts for several years, and the cars are reduced to rubble in many cases.

 

[Tahoe4Life]

I know a few Kentucky State Police and they drive the Dodge Charger.. They say they are in the shop more that on the road...very few troopers actually own a Dodge as there own car...

As I recall the Kentucky State Police switched to Tahoe's. Believe Louisville did also.

 

[hrv]

As I recall the Kentucky State Police switched to Tahoe's. Believe Louisville did also.

Nope still using chargers for the state police and here in Louisville they use Ford..

 

[390pcode]

No Durangos for CHP, although they did try them for mountain area use in the '90s. CHP has the largest vehicle fleet in the US. They chose V6 chargers, starting in 2016, rwd and some awd. Mountain areas are using Tahoes. They did recently buy some Explorer non-turbo since they were one of the first to use those when they came out. Currently testing Silverado crewcab and Tahoes for statewide use to do the end of Charger production. They will most likely move to all Explorers, though. CHP was always open to new ideas with regard to pursuit vehicles and tried quite a few different models over the years. Early Mustang 5.0 pursuit was one of their most famous collaborations with Ford. The (10) '79 Camaros were a test failure; Camrys were an interesting idea as were Volvo S70s.
Nevada Highway Patrol essentially copied Calif since late 60's except their Explorers were ecoboost. NHP chose F150 crewcabs for mountain area vehicles.

 

[MParr]

It’s all about low bids. Federal and State agencies write up the specifications. Local agencies piggyback off of the state specifications. The purchase specifications are usually submitted online by the purchasing department. Bids are submitted by in state Stellantis, Ford, and GM dealerships. The lowest bidder usually wins out. It’s not about what one particular police department wants.
The State of Michigan does extensive testing of all manufacturers.

https://www.michigan.gov/msp/-/media/Project/Websites/msp/training/MY2023PoliceVehicleEvaluationTestBook.pdf

 

[mk378]

The trick is to write the specifications so that only the car you want qualifies.

 

[hrv]

It’s all about low bids. Federal and State agencies write up the specifications. Local agencies piggyback off of the state specifications. The purchase specifications are usually submitted online by the purchasing department. Bids are submitted by in state Stellantis, Ford, and GM dealerships. The lowest bidder usually wins out. It’s not about what one particular police department wants.
The State of Michigan does extensive testing of all manufacturers.

https://www.michigan.gov/msp/-/media/Project/Websites/msp/training/MY2023PoliceVehicleEvaluationTestBook.pdf

yup the bottom feeders win out...

 

[Malo83]

Jay Lenos CHP Mustang

Jay Leno's Project 11-99 CHP Mustang - Code 3 Garage

Jay Leno worked with Galpin Auto Sports to create this new 11-99 CHP Mustang to honor the 40th anniversary of the SSP Mustang.

code3garage.com

 

[GMBoy]

Upfitter error is a great point. I've seen it before on my own vehicles.

Interested to see If the OP knows if they called FCA and asked for a field tech. FCA would have a vested interest in finding out what is going on here for sure.

I agree these upfitters can be brutal rip and tear operations. I remember a few years back I had to go visit one of the police package upfitters because they had a Tahoe that we shipped from the plant missing a parts bag (this had loose parts shipped to be installed later). I took a bag over and I was in complete awe at the work that was being done - I mean hacking into wires, cutting holes - you name it. I was like yep there's gonna be warranty issues on these lol

 

[Stumpy]

Sounds about right for a Dodge, I mean, Fiat, oops, I mean Mercedes, darnnit, Peugeot, ahhh Stelantis, oh whatever.............