Do you find the trend of aggressively styled police vehicles troubling?

[HeXen]

I think this would also make cops a lot more relaxed; knowing that they could completely destroy you even without weapons. Lots of MMA fighters say this. Feeling powerful and in control really takes the edge off.

But MMA fighters are not usually out in the ghetto where armed gang members are hanging out in droves either. One to one unarmed combat is not usually how the streets work, it probably makes taking down the drunk guy who beat his wife quite a bit easier but let's get real now, you don't become MMA tough overnight by taking a few classes, most cops don't even seem to work out much less do the kind of training it takes to be MMA material.

 

[Darwin333]

Does aggressive styling have a deterrent effect against criminals or do they take it as a challenge?

By and large, criminals aren't deterred or intimidated by the police, if they were they wouldn't be criminals. OTOH, your regular everyday joe is easily intimidated by the police which is generally the desired outcome.

 

[WackyDan]

I'm not afraid of the styling itself. I am wondering what psychological undertones drove the police force to find this kind of styling necessary.


Also, Ford would not stop the production of the vehicle without overwhelming support for change from the police departments that were purchasing them. Why did they lose support?

Why don't you start by pointing out what their other choices were? The charger is an ideal size... so is the taurus... and some are still buying the current impala and some city depts are buying malibus.

First thing... Police depts by and large buy American cars made by American companies. Why? Many police depts are unionized.

The Crown Vics were an ancient, but yes, capable platform. Ford's entire vehicle lineup was moving past the venerable 4.6 v8 design among other components used and police departments wanted more fuel efficient engines.

Name for me the other GM, Ford, or Dodge vehicles that would be more acceptable to you for police departments to use?

 

[WackyDan]

If anything, just another symptom (albeit minor) of the growing militarization and aggressiveness of many police departments.

My latest gripe is just how friggin bright these new LED light bars are. They are seriously a dangerous distraction when you get one or worse, two or three, of them on the side of the highway. They are so bright they can block your vision beyond, and of course bright lights naturally attract ones eyes to it.

Also, Challenger = 2 door and Charger = 4 door. Never seen a police Challenger around here, but the Charger is by far the most common police car.

California Highway Patrol, and New York State Police have a long history of using two door Mustangs as pursuit vehicles/ticket writing instruments. The two door mustangs were Mustang L's if I remember correctly... Bargain basement but with the V8... Which ironically out performed the GT's due to the GT's heavier and also ironically un-aerodynamic body kits.

 

[Darwin333]

What they should be doing is working on their hand to hand combat. Guns and pepper spray are great tools, but how often do you really pull a gun and start firing at criminals? Being up close and personal happens every single day.
It cannot be overstated how much of a difference mma fighting makes. What made jiu jitsu famous was the way a small fighter could submit a much larger and stronger fighter. Judo and wrestling are like that as well. You don't realize how important skill is until a woman half your size chokes you out with little effort. This seems more important today because there are a lot of female cops, and many of them are not much bigger than me.

I think this would also make cops a lot more relaxed; knowing that they could completely destroy you even without weapons. Lots of MMA fighters say this. Feeling powerful and in control really takes the edge off.

Math should make them far more comfortable than any mma fighting skills or rambo bullshit. The math says that despite what they want you to believe that cops don't have a very dangerous job. One of my professions is FAR more dangerous than any police force.

Hell, half of the cops that die on the job, and yes it is tragic, are killed in car crashes and the majority of those car crashes are not in any sort of pursuit or even responding to a call. The fact of the matter is that cab drivers have a far more dangerous job than cops do. The math doesn't lie.

Since I know the actual facts and not some bullshit someone with an agenda wants me to believe, why in the hell would we want cops who are more aggressive than they already are? As overused as they are, I would much prefer to be tasered than to be "choked out" by an overly aggressive cop that at worst will lose his job if he "accidentally" kills me over some nonviolent crime or mistake that the cops made.

Hell, wasn't long ago that cops in Detroit threw a fucking flash bang grenade on top of a sleeping child who just happened to be in the house that the police got the wrong house (or something along those lines). Do you think the cop that negligently threw a flash bang grenade on top of a sleeping child faced any criminal charges? Do you think that YOU would face criminal charges if you negligently threw a pack of fireworks on top of a sleeping child?

 

[Sulaco]

No. I have other, real things to be 'troubled' by.

 

[Darwin333]

California Highway Patrol, and New York State Police have a long history of using two door Mustangs as pursuit vehicles/ticket writing instruments. The two door mustangs were Mustang L's if I remember correctly... Bargain basement but with the V8... Which ironically out performed the GT's due to the GT's heavier and also ironically un-aerodynamic body kits.

I am soo looking up the mustang point you made. Any specific year or is it common throughout their recent production models?

 

[Spungo]

But MMA fighters are not usually out in the ghetto where armed gang members are hanging out in droves either. One to one unarmed combat is not usually how the streets work, it probably makes taking down the drunk guy who beat his wife quite a bit easier but let's get real now, you don't become MMA tough overnight by taking a few classes, most cops don't even seem to work out much less do the kind of training it takes to be MMA material.

Watch an episode of Cops and you'll see why wrestling and grappling are important. If a cop doesn't know anything about ground fighting, it can be really damn hard to submit someone. It might take 3 cops to hold a guy down. Or it could take a 100 pound woman who has the guy in some ridiculous hold. World jiu jitsu champion Marcelo Garcia is only 5'8" and he messes dudes up. The other thing to consider is that sometimes people are just crazy. If they do something nuts like tackle a cop, it would be nice if the cop had a tremendous skill advantage. I know police are already trained for hand to hand fighting, but it would be nice if they had a bit more training. I'm not completely convinced that female cops are effective. What if that was a female cop that the crazy guy tackled? Would she be able to submit that guy?

Math should make them far more comfortable than any mma fighting skills or rambo bullshit. The math says that despite what they want you to believe that cops don't have a very dangerous job. One of my professions is FAR more dangerous than any police force.

That's terrible logic. I could say that chemists don't need fume hoods because labs rarely explode. Labs rarely explode because they have fume hoods. Police are fairly safe because they receive a lot of training.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I see cars with paint jobs which scream "I'm here, I can't hide!"

Why am I supposed to worry?

 

[Wardawg1001]

I don't feel threatened by the police at all. Let alone what type of car they drive.

 

[Kadarin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6lTL8gYIc8

"This is what we use to deliver our team to high risk warrant services." This is the direction the country is going, folks... And this military hardware will eventually be used against all of us.

 

[who?]

I don't think the black and white Tahoes look that aggressive.
Since the cops never know when they're going to encounter some "sovereign citizen" wacko it's understandable that they get a little paranoid. Anybody they pull over might be somebody who wants to kill police officers.

 

[cubby1223]

Most cars today are front-wheel drive while the police primarily look for rear-wheel drive. They don't have a lot of options from the car manufacturers to choose their fleet from. The aggressive-looking Dodge Charger is a rear-wheel drive vehicle, why do you think it's very popular now amongst police departments, it's aggressive looks or it's rear-wheel drive?

 

[Angry Irishman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6lTL8gYIc8

"This is what we use to deliver our team to high risk warrant services." This is the direction the country is going, folks... And this military hardware will eventually be used against all of us.

Someone explain why these vehicles are needed as a part of civilian law enforcement at any government level...anyone.

 

[davmat787]

California Highway Patrol, and New York State Police have a long history of using two door Mustangs as pursuit vehicles/ticket writing instruments. The two door mustangs were Mustang L's if I remember correctly... Bargain basement but with the V8... Which ironically out performed the GT's due to the GT's heavier and also ironically un-aerodynamic body kits.

In Saudi Arabia there is a Lamborghini and a Bugatti police car. Crazy, but they have to be able to catch all the Lamborghinis, Ferraris, .etc that all our oil money buys.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Someone explain why these vehicles are needed as a part of civilian law enforcement at any government level...anyone.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blwacoguns.htm

 

[Angry Irishman]

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blwacoguns.htm

So given the amount of times that there is an incident like the one you referenced does this justify the amount of military hardware that Homeland Security, state and city police agencies are acquiring?

 

[Ackmed]

There is so much ignorance in this thread it is astounding.

If anything, just another symptom (albeit minor) of the growing militarization and aggressiveness of many police departments.

My latest gripe is just how friggin bright these new LED light bars are. They are seriously a dangerous distraction when you get one or worse, two or three, of them on the side of the highway. They are so bright they can block your vision beyond, and of course bright lights naturally attract ones eyes to it.

Also, Challenger = 2 door and Charger = 4 door. Never seen a police Challenger around here, but the Charger is by far the most common police car.

LED light bars are needed because dozens of Law Enforcement, Emergency responders, etc get hit and killed every year on the side of the road. Not everyone drives at 9+3 keeping both eyes on the road paying attention. More people multitask while driving, half paying attention to their surroundings.

 

[who?]

The DHS has to deal with the cartels on the border.

 

[who?]

The Charger has an aerodynamic teardrop shape that will help it get good ms per g so Chrysler may be able to avoid the mpg fines.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

If only the police drive these daily.

 

[Spungo]

Since the cops never know when they're going to encounter some "sovereign citizen" wacko it's understandable that they get a little paranoid. Anybody they pull over might be somebody who wants to kill police officers.

I was watching that conspiracy show with Jesse Ventura last night. He's talking to "targeted individuals" who claim to be hearing voices. The first two women sounded like they had narcolepsy. The third guy sounded like he had schizophrenia. He said he heard the voices all the time. That guy also said he lost a job because his boss asked him about 9/11 and the guy said it may have been an inside job. That's exactly the type of thing schizophrenic people say. How likely is it that his boss came up to him and started that conversation about 9/11 and who did it? Schizophrenics have conversations that are bizarre or the conversation never really happened.

At the end of the show, Ventura is looking at the camera and saying "No, you're not crazy!"
In many states, that nutcase could buy a gun with no questions asked. He probably has no official history of mental illness because it seems obvious that he has never received treatment for his schizophrenia. I can totally see why cops would be very jumpy all the time. There are probably tens of thousands of mentally ill people who are receiving no medical treatment, the media is feeding into their fear, the guy on TV is telling them that their paranoia is real, and they are allowed to buy guns.

 

[yottabit]

Interesting. I used to follow Ford a lot more closely but haven't in the past few years. I didn't even realize the Crown Vic was out of production now, that explains all the Chargers.

I remember reading many years back that the Ford Panther platform (on which the Crown Vic was based) was to be at EOL around now, but that there would be a replacement platform in around 2014 (and the rumors back then were that the next-gen mustang would likely also be built on this same IRS, RWD platform)

I wonder if there are still any plans for that replacement platform or it's been scrapped? I would think we would have heard something by now

Fact is most big vehicles are very aggressively styled. I guess they figure people who want a huge car/truck probably want that kind of style. I do think it's a little out of line now that you bring it up and probably something police departments should pay attention to. They need to remember that they are essentially a service provider for us, their customers. As grateful as I am for that service, I've definitely seen some cops that let it go to their head a little bit.

 

[mizzou]

Ford/Chevy/Dodge upgrade their entire fleet, police cars are simply rebadged civilian cars.

Other then tactical unit vehicles, can you show me a picture of a legit metropolitan police patrol vehicle that looks more aggressive then it's civilian counterpart?

Also, I think all of us miss the crown vic What a sexy beast, it's either frumpy taxi cab or intimidating blacked out FBI cruiser.

 

[mizzou]

Someone explain why these vehicles are needed as a part of civilian law enforcement at any government level...anyone.

It's the same reason our coast guard doesn't sail around in rubber dingies.