Articles - Vehicles

As any officer who has ever worked the midnight shift knows, sound travels and night. We all tend to laugh at suspects who give away their hidden positions by making some little noise, yet we are bigger culprits than they are when it comes to announcing our presence to the world.

The coastline comprises a wide assortment of conditions, including open-ocean waters, often with high seas, shallows, winding and narrow inlets, bays, canals, harbors, wetlands and the Long Island Sound, each posing a different challenge for a police boat.

There are countless other agencies of different sizes, each tasked with making the waters of their jurisdictions safe for recreational boating and business use.

Comparing the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Crown Victoria, chevrolet Lumina, and Ford's clean-air vehicles, consultants discuss the pros and cons of the 1997 police  vehicles.

On Sept. 28, 1989, a fire truck from the Catlett, Calif., Fire Department was struck by an Amtrak passenger train as the truck crossed a rural railroad right-of-way while responding to a vehicle fire. The truck was totally destroyed, and two firefighters aboard were killed.

The lead story was the same on nine local television stations, four national networks and CNN: While conducting a "routine" vehicle stop, an officer was critically wounded and the suspects unknown. The five-year law enforcement veteran left behind two sons and a wife who was expecting their third child. We have all heard it and seen it, but are we learning from it?

Not long ago, U.S. Bor­der Patrol agents initi­ated a pursuit of a vehicle operated by su­spected illegal aliens through a subur­ban Southern California community. The vehicle failed to yield, continued at a high rate of speed, and exited the freeway with complete disregard for public safety. At the height of the high-speed chase, the vehicle drove through a crowded school zone, injuring several children and killing four people.