Beverly, MA police has cages in Chargers

I finally saw cages in Police Chargers. Looks sharp.,black and white. I wish LAPD would change up.

RE: Chargers as Police Vehicles

Looked in them, have not driven one. DPS has one stationed around here and an agency north of us has a couple. Yeah, they have a high CDI (chicks dig it) factor, don't know about room, visibility, or comfort. The Trooper got in a pursuit and burned nearly the whole damn tank of gas in about 30 minutes...something to think about with the Hemi. They usually can't outrun the Motorola, anyway!! I like the Vics but there is not a whole helluva lot of room in back w/cage in these either.

On a side note...the best unit I've seen yet in 23 yrs is a F-250 double cab which was tricked out with a chip, K&N Air/exhaust, and had PLENTY of room for everything. (Got to work interdiction in it for a few days with an agency along the I-10 corridor). No trouble catching violators (ran like a spotted-ass monkey), no trouble loading fat drug haulers, and enough room to haul all the crap you need to dismantle (Whoops, I mean SEARCH) a vehicle! You know...I think the dopers paid for the vehicles and gas, so mileage wasn't an issue...HA HA HA

RE: Chargers as Police Vehicles

Eliminate double post

Last edited @ 6/24/2007 2:19 PM

RE: Chargers as Police Vehicles

I have seen a couple Chargers being used now with cages. My small town department bought two. The only complaint I have heard after talking with the officers is the lack of power 9they got the V-6 version). They have not yet said anything about the interior room or visibility problems. I have always hated the rear visibility through a cage anyway, so that won't be different. The front visibility I will have to check when I get to actually drive one.

Yarbrough has a good point about the use of pick-ups for patrol. In most cases, they will do everything better except for a chase, and that can be handled with a little work on them. I just don't see many cities modifying or letting the officers modify the trucks.

MSP patrol vehicle report

Here is a PDF file of the Michigan State Police report on the specs of patrol vehicles for those wishing to compare the Dodge Charger with a Crown Vic. Complete with pictures. Just thought I would post it for FYI:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/msp/VehicleEvaluation2007_MSP-PoliceVehicleComp_182663_7.pdf

Last edited @ 6/27/2007 12:44 PM

Tested... came out #1

My agency just ran a test of our own, similar to LASD and the MSP test commented on in the magazine. The tests were conducted at the State Patrol track and though I was not a participant in the test our Officer Advisory Committee Pres. told me the Charger won hands down. The test was between the Charger (5.7 L Hemi), the Ford CVPI, and the Impala. I was told the Dodge came out ahead in acceleration, braking, and maneuverability. They also looked at cost of operation, gas usage (not mileage because we park and idle our cars a lot) maintenance cost and after market support for Law Enforcement Parts. The Charger again came out ahead except for the number of manufactures of cages, seats etc.

I have driven all three on patrol and there are some quirks to the Charger that I think will be worked out. I still favor to Ford for the room and visibility, but performance wise the Charger wins. We have cages, but no hard plastic rear seats in the Charger. All the electronic equipment is supported better in the Charger than the Impala. I have not had the electrical quirks that I did when driving the Impala. I will see if I can find the numbers to support the claims and post them here.