Growing up, I was a fan of the Law & Order franchise. A large part of its appeal to me was the fact it shot on location in New York City, making it far more visually stimulating and authentic than shows like CSI: New York (better writing helped, too). All those years of watching the various Law & Order series exposed me to the last two and a half decades of NYPD police cars.
I remember the Dodge Diplomats in the opening credits and the many years of sky blue Chevrolet Caprices. Then, the Ford Crown Victoria took over as it did in many North American police fleets once the Caprice was axed, and it felt like the Vicky was never going to go away. But then it did. All the NYPD Crown Victorias have gone now, or at least the vast majority of them have.
The NYPD’s new vehicle of choice? The Police Interceptor Utility, Ford’s special police edition of the Explorer. As you can see from the lead photo, the NYPD has gone all-in on the crossover.
Photo courtesy of André Gustavo Stumpf
In contrast, the Police Interceptor sedan – Ford’s LEO-optimized Taurus – appears to account for only a fraction of the NYPD fleet. That’s entirely understandable given the Taurus is hardly a bastion of space efficiency and trying to wedge a perp in the back of one behind the barrier may potentially be a violation of their civil rights. Beyond Ford products, which include the Fusion Hybrid cop cars common in Manhattan, the NYPD has one other car that’s quickly becoming more ubiquitous which I’ll share with you in my next outtake.
I haven’t been keeping up with the last remaining Law & Order series, Special Victims Unit (although last I saw, it had gotten surprisingly good in its old age thanks to new showrunners) so I don’t know if the show is accurately reflecting the changing NYPD fleet makeup. But it’s funny to think that the younger generation will now associate the Explorer with the NYPD instead of the Crown Victorias and Caprices of the past.
Related Reading:
eBay Find: 1995 Police Package Ford Taurus – The Rare Crime Fighting Bull
Autobiography: 2001 Ford Crown Victoria – The Jewel Of The Crowns
Curbside Classic: Dodge Diplomat SE – Fond Memories: Celebrating Five Years of Curbside Classic
It has been interesting to watch cop shows on TV through the years. There have been a few that try to stay authentic on car choices (ADAM-12 comes to mind) and others that use a fleet-spec version of whatever the sponsoring manufacturer might be (like Mannix where everything came from Chrysler Corporation or the Andy Griffith Show which always showed Fords.)
We talked recently about the lack of old shows that showed New York back when they used their black/green/white color scheme. This shot from the Naked City got close, but I think the choice of Pontiac was due to a sponsorship arrangement rather than what the NYPD was actually driving then.
The Crown Victoria’s domanance over recent decades allowed Hollywood to get careless on picking police cars because they were almost always the same. But now we careful viewers have more to get nitpicky over.
But now we careful viewers have more to get nitpicky over.
As a kid I would get irritated when it was clear that a show was using a “badge engineered” version of a cop car and I picked it up in the headlights or taillights.
Like a mid 80s show that couldn’t find enough Crown Victorias and so grabbed some Grand Marquis and added light-bars and the correct color scheme.
“THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A POLICE PACKAGE FOR A PANTHER MERCURY!” (I’d want to scream.)
While you are correct, that there was no factory police package for the Panther Mercury, some agencies did use them. For example, according to Ed Sanow’s Ford police cars, the Missouri State Highway patrol used the full size Mercury (Grand ) Marquis in 1980-1981. Photo attached.
Maine State Police used unmarked Crown Victorias that looked like a cop Crown Vic from the front but they wore Mercury Grand Marquis tail lights and badges on the back. They came from the factory built like that. I was talking to a cop about his car and he said that they were deadly in catching speeders. Sometimes they would put an afghan in the back window with a kleenex box on top of it and cruise the slow Lane at 55 mph and just wait.
Or how about Kojak, with more Buicks than a retirement village?
That NYPD radio car would have been a full size Plymouth with a 6 in that era. The units patrolling the BQE, West Side Highway, FDR, etc. would have had a V8. Not sure whether that was a 383 or 440.
And yeah, the use of inaccurate civilian models dressed up as police cars always distracts me too! There was an episode of ER in the 1990s starring Ewan McGregor that has a whole bunch of Grand Marquis dressed up as CPD cars, replete with chrome wheel covers. I mean… is it really that hard to find Crown Vics for this?
Still a lot of Crown Vics on SVU. But those are unmarked Detective cars so they probably still have relatively low miles.
The other Dick Wolf franchises, Chicago PD and Chicago Justice (recently cancelled) do feature the Explorer Police Interceptor Utility as marked and unmarked units.
Another NYPD show, Blue Bloods, features the Caprice PPV and Dodge Charger as detective cars. Marked units are Crown Vics, Chargers, and Impalas. There was one episode where our heroes were issued a marked Smart for Two
The California Highway Patrol, after purchasing the Ford Interceptor SUV for a year, is back to sedans…the Dodge Charger Pursuit, this time on a rare two-year contract.
Many officers are happy not only with its performance but with its appearace unlike Mom’s grocery-getter: “I really like the look of the Charger,” said Officer Florentino Olivera, who is based at the Santa Ana headquarters. “It just looks like a cop car.” -quote from Orange County Register
Added to Dodge’s sale: hundreds of cars for State and police agencies who tack-on to the CHP order.
“I really like the look of the Charger,” said Officer Florentino Olivera, who is based at the Santa Ana headquarters. “It just looks like a cop car.” -quote from Orange County Register… exactly my reaction when the first generation first appeared in the auto publications.
For most of the ’90s and ’00s, Montreal used minivans, complete with silver plastic base-model wheelcovers.
Speaking of, those look better than the usual police package black steelies which look junky and unfinished unless kept immaculately waxed in which case they look tryhard but have a rep for flying off – here’s an idea, why not paint the steelies silver?
They did select the V6 instead of the hemi, though. That engine actually seemed ok (while not a hemi) in a rental car I had a year ago.
The Pentastar V6’s is one of the best engines on the market right now.
Well, that does it. Between the COAL earlier and this retrospective I’m officially homesick. Thankfully my annual August pilgrimage is booked. Now If I can only get myself motivated to actually shoot some pics and scribble a few notes while there, I might just cobble together a CC entry. I’m so grateful for and impressed by all those who do, and it makes me feel remiss. One of these days…
It’s mostly Explorers with some Chargers and Tauruses (Tauri?) around here. State Patrol has some Tahoes, but really don’t see many GM cars anymore.
I’m noticing a lot more unmarked cop cars these days. I’m guessing the illegal drug epidemic might have something to do with that. I even saw one wearing handicapped plates driven by a fully uniformed officer. I guess as long as it’s not wrongfully parked in a handicapped spot there’s not really an issue.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the CVPI is still the king of cop cars. The suburb I live in, Kentwood, still has a couple of surviving CVPIs, but has diversified their fleet greatly. We have Dodge Chargers, Chevy Tahoes and Ford Explorers. Everything but the Caprice and Smart Car (kidding). It’s like they’re auditioning each of the major players in the cop car category. I suspect other departments are doing the same thing.
Michigan State Patrol has many Charger police cars, with a healthy dose of Tahoes, too. The County Mounties have Caprices and Tahoes, but mostly Tahoes. The Cappys are far and few in between.
Funny that the Expedition is being seen as too friendly. Officer Oliveira should trade places with our cops here in The Netherlands. They are gettting Mercedes….wait for it… B-classes.
Must be part of a new public friendly campaign where the cope will use homour to stop the badguys. They will be rolling on the ground in laughter instead of running/speeding away when officer Hans Brinkers arrived at the crime scene…
Between the weird stripes that look like they belong on a barber pole and the Politie(I realize it is police) on the hood it does look rather comical to me. The Politie looks almost like Politle as in to little to me.
Here in eastern Canada, the Taurus reigns supreme. Well, for the RCMP at least. There are still a few Crown Vics kicking around, but they are disappearing quickly.
The Tahoe is a common one as well. Much more of them around than Explorers.
Some of the local police forces are using Chargers too.
The only ones using the Explorer in my area are the CVE (Commercial Vehicle Enforcement) officers.
Our police and sheriff seem to be adrift since the end of the Crown Victoria. Caprice, Charger, Explorer, maybe a Taurus or two, and Tahoe are all in the mix. Caprice seemed to be the immediate dominant car right after the CV was axed, but now that the Caprice has been cancelled, there seems to be a lot of thinking going on.
If you think the Taurus is space inefficient, its cousin on an elevated platform, the Explorer, is really no better. I’d imagine that just about any vehicle in use right now has a pretty terrible backseat if there is a barrier between the front and rear seats.
Except, perhaps, in the case of the Tahoe. I have not seen inside a police Tahoe, but I’ll guess it’s the vehicle the cops really want. I’ll wager it is at this time the priciest cop car available, which is probably giving some procurement managers fits and some mayors indigestion.
My hunch is the State Patrol guys like their Chargers a lot, but the fleet managers are probably a bit nauseated by the repairs.
It’s a bit surprising that the Ford FLEX has never been done as a police package. The body is a whole heck of a lot more space efficient, and runs around on the same platform as the Explorer.
I’ve visited the Ontario Provincial Police Museum in Orillia a couple times, and enjoyed the experiences. The Museum’s website is currently featuring some vintage video’s promoting the force. This recruitment video from 1974 features concurrent Plymouth Gran Furies and LTDs.
Vintage Chev…
Fury in ’67…
Both are two doors.
Sherman, set the wayback machine for 1956. We’ll see a real vintage cop show chase.
My favorite cop car:
https://i2.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSCN0280.jpg
Hawaii does it a little differently. At least outside downtown Honolulu there are a variety of semi-unmarked SUVs used for most patrol duties. The small blue light on the roof is the only giveaway. I am frequently on the Big Island and dont remember seeing a traditional police car.
When Buffalo retired their Crown Vics, they opted for Tahoes…rear wheel drive with summer tires believe it or not. They were poor in the snow and ultimately very expensive to purchase. They have since bought Dodge Charger AWD vehicles…Awesome looking cars