What is the criteria that Police forces adopt when choosing a Motorway Patrol car?
The reason I ask is, I would imagine cost would be high on the list; I've seen a lot of Range Rovers, Discos, the odd Nissan Patrol, Terrano II, Isuzu Trooper and on one occasion even a Merc ML - What is the justification for running a 4X4 as a motorway patrol car over say a Vx 3.0 Omega estate or a Volvo T5 V70 for example?
I would imagine both the latter would be much better high speed pursuit vehicles and be able to carry pretty much the same equipment/load as most of the above mentioned 4X4's and be equally capable at a motorway RTA and I'd imagine that they may be cheaper to run too.
Even if cost isn't a deciding factor, the only advantage of a 4X4 that I can see in this context would be the greater visibility, the off road capability simply wouldn't come into the equation. The disadvantages of a large 4X4, such as the reduced acceleration, lower top speed, poorer high speed manoeuvrability and stability would factor far greater and even if the running costs were indeed lower than a suitable estate car, still (in my mind at least) it would not justify their use in this context.
Am I not seeing the whole picture here?
Chad.
PS. I'm not on a 4X4/SUV bashing exercise - the police must have reason for choosing 4X4s as motorway patrol cars, I'd just like to know it!
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There are other factors
Firstly, 4x4's have greater towing capacity (useful for towing a car onto the hard shoulder.
Secondly, these cars usually have better residuals, so although cost more, they will realise a greater amount on resale, which means that each car costs the authority less money.
Jonathan
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Maybe they're allowed to use them to drop the kids off at school before starting work! ;-)
Paul
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There are other factors Firstly, 4x4's have greater towing capacity (useful for towing a car onto the hard shoulder.
yepp try towing a caravan on its side, even Range Rovers in low ratio and diffs locked gasp at that one!
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A good large diesel estate (E320 CDi) should give 35-40 mpg if you don't count the real high speed use. I can't imagine a Range Rover giving better than 25 mpg, so surely that would cancel out the residuals over the 120-150k service life of a patrol car.
I have no idea what the police buy their cars for, but £35k - £6k (perhaps) for an E320 is cheaper than £43k - £10k for a Range Rover although obviously discounts could change that significantly.
And while most 4x4s do a better job of towing than a big estate, an X5 isn't that great as a tow car by all accounts.
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I recently noticed that the lucky officers of Cheshire constabulary's traffic department have a posh new toy...
A new shape Range Rover!!!
I'm in the wrong job......
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I suspect that many of these more expensive machines are not purchased by the police but donated by the manufacture as trial vehicles.
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Towing and improved visibility come to mind. Judging by the old "Police, Camera Action" type shows - off road ability is required on occasions!
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Around here(Hampshire)they are using along with the usual BMWs and Volvos a Lexus RX300 and a BMW X5,i don't know if they are just on for 'evaluation'.
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How about one with an engine that has 4 legs?
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A lot of it is the stuff they have to carry these days, and the amount of electronic tackle that needs installing on the dash, and under the bonnet etc..
While the Omega is an excellent patrol car, they told me it was dropped around here in favour of Volvos, because of the lack of space for special equipment.
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There's also some criteria about what they can carry - warning signs, cones, handcuffs etc etc.
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Yes, and not forgetting the essential £900 densitometer to measure motorcylist's visor tints so that they can sieze their bikes thus allowing joyriders and gun toting drug dealing gangsters to go about their business without being concerned by bikers1
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What used to make a proper Police Patrol car was American V8 horses and a saloon that wasn't too expensive and reliable to run.
*AHEM! Clears throat*
I think we may be seeing a return the what was known as "The Police's favourite car"
And they do a proper estate version now as well
;)
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Do they use the 75 for motorway work anywhere in the UK?
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And where do they find the space for all the stuff in one of these? policecanada.ca/BV09.jpg
Gareth
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Since they patrol 24/7, 365 days a year I suppose the 4wd is for snowy/icy/oily conditions. I suppose they have to do a bit of off-roading to drag wreckage back onto the hard shoulder, not all crashes leave debris neatly on the carriageway.
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You need to make the distinction between motorway patrol cars, which are likely to be 4x4s for all the reasons mentioned above, and motorway pursuit cars, with specially trained high speed pursuit drivers on board, but little of the kit that the 4x4s can carry (eg the traffic cones, accident signs, sand etc).
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Of course us Fast response/armed response non-motorway drivers have to carry all the kit, be pursuit trained and deal with all forms of RTCs. From minor knocks to fatals. I even had to go into my local nick and show two experienced motorway officers how to package a blood sample following a positive roadside.
(Waiting for barrage from the 56mph in a straight line mob).
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Which only goes to show MLC there were some that spent their time OUT ON the road looking for collars as opposed to hanging round Custody/Canteens waiting for a shout??????
DVD
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You need to make the distinction between motorway patrol cars, which are likely to be 4x4s for all the reasons mentioned above, and motorway pursuit cars, with specially trained high speed pursuit drivers......
I thought (maybe incorrectly) that they would be one and the same....scenario: Patrol doing 60mph in the slow lane, some loony screams past doing over a ton in the fast lane ...what does the Patrol do - just call it in and continue or give chase?
Chad.
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