For over a decade, Dodge Charger headlights in one’s rearview mirror have signaled that a law enforcement officer might be back there. Now, that era is about to end as production of the Charger comes to a close. In fact, it might signal the end of American police cars altogether.
Today, Tim Kuniskis appeared with Jay Leno on the latter’s Garage program to discuss the final Charger police car to roll off of the production line. It’s the last of its kind to come out of the Brampton factory and it’s the last with a V8. Kuniskis calls it “a triple threat.”
Spac
“When we got [the LD] platform, we actually started with L.A. County Sheriff and California Highway Patrol before we built the first one, getting their input on exactly what they wanted, how much brakes [sic], how much tires, how fast do you need to go, what’s the balance between smoothness and acceleration, and we really came up with a car that resonates with all municipalities,” he tells Jay.
According to AllPar.com, at least 20 states adopted the Charger as a police vehicle by 2013. Since then, Dodge has added more technology like larger infotainment systems to the car and offered on-demand all-wheel drive too. Now, it appears the vehicle featured by Leno and Kuniskis is, at least for now, the last mainstream American police car ever.
How’d We Get Here?
The writing has been on the wall for some time. As early as 2021, outlets like PoliceMag.com called the Charger the “Last Patrol Sedan.” Ford ended production of the iconic Crown Victoria in 2011. The Ford Taurus left production in 2019; the historic sedan simply wasn’t selling well enough. In fact, when it left production, Ford openly said that it would use the same plant to focus on the Police Interceptor Utility, a law-enforcement version of the Explorer.
A year later, Chevrolet quit building the Impala. The patrol version actually lived on until 2016 along with the Holden-built Chevrolet Caprice PPV which remained available to law enforcement only through 2017. But now the American sedan is nearly extinct all by itself without any consideration about if it’s a police vehicle or not. Departments are shifting, like many American buyers, toward SUVs and even trucks. And there are some benefits to it.
“What’s new today is the use of a taller vehicle platform like the Tahoe that will offer troopers an improved visual perspective to detect drivers violating distracted driving laws or spotting a vehicle being driven in an aggressive manner that threatens other motorist’s safety,” said Col. Bill Bryant, director of the Arkansas State Police to WhiteRiverNow.
Having watched way too many police pursuit videos, I can assure you that most officers who chase suspects don’t need a slick and quick sedan to keep up. On the flip side, the suspects who get away tend to be in cars that are so fast that no police car can keep up anyway.
What’s The Future?
Dodge knows that much of its Charger sales come from fleet customers like those in law enforcement. Former CEO Kuniskis acknowledged that back in March to Motor1 saying “[A new Charger Police Car] definitely on our radar.” At the same time, Dodge hasn’t openly unveiled or even talked about a new Charger police car. As of this writing, Stellantis advertises three vehicles for law enforcement. They include the Dodge Durango Pursuit, the Jeep Wagoneer L, and the RAM 1500.
Notably, at present, some departments are incorporating the use of electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 into their lineups. Technically speaking, the Model 3 could technically be considered “last American ‘police car,'” but it’s far from mainstream at this stage.
It seems almost impossible that any Tesla could become the icon that the Dodge Charger, Ford Taurus, or Ford Crown Victoria are, but who knows. Can an electric sedan, even one from Dodge, fill the void of the Charger and the Crown Vic police cars? What do you think?
Very interesting. A friend of mine recently retired from the Ottawa Police Service. Like many cops, she loved her Crown Vic. I asked her why Ottawa chose to go with the Explorers. She told me that when they were phasing out the Crown Vics, they all got to try out both the Charger and the Explorer. It was universally agreed that the Charger was not going to work with their in -car gear — you’d have to be crazy skinny to fit once everything was loaded in.
The Impala police car looks like such a weenie mobile.
When I worked in vehicle dynamics at FCA, I did a fair bit of development driving on these. You’d be shocked how capable they are on a racetrack, given the variety of requirements that they have to live up to. I go into it in more detail in this piece from several years ago. FWIW, the Charger and Explorer have traded honors of being fastest from year to year. Regardless, I’m sad that we’ll likely be soon pouring one our for the “cop car” 🙁
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/06/the-fastest-cop-car-is-not-a-car/
Considering the amount of time sitting idling, and the the overall 360 camera system on a tesla, I could see them being used by police, but they don’t hold up to abuse like a full frame car tends to.
The majority around me are Chevy Tahoes and Ford Explorers. Michigan State patrols they still have Dodge Chargers running around but I think is because they have a better budget to maintain them and do highway duty instead of city driving. Their blue color is pretty interesting with the big red light on top.
In Connecticut it seems that every state and local law enforcement vehicle is an Exployer. Some exceptions for unmarked and a few trucks for the state boys that carry the long guns.
I can’t believe Tim just nonchalantly mentioned that Dodge was heavily considering doing a Hellcat patrol car for one of the states. He didn’t mention which one, but said the talks were on going and what not.
https://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com/2019/05/03/watch-out-for-the-speed-trap-dodge-srt-takes-on-one-lap-of-america-again-this-year-in-dodge-durango-srt-pursuit-concept/
Tim sure seemed like he was talking about Charger Hellcat’s for patrol cars with a state, not the one-off SUV they did for One Lap.
Just posting for some precedence. My buddy and former co-worker was the one who ran it in OLOA. With that said, I can assure you that there is a 0% chance that a Hellcat-powered Pursuit Charger would pass the track durability testing. The brakes would not keep up in the 32-lap test, as they are limited by size and cooling ability inside of the 18″ steel wheels, which in turn are developed to meet curb strike requirements.
If this were ever to be done, it would be a 1-off style “special service vehicle” that wouldn’t need to pass pursuit testing.
My ex’s 2005 Passat headlights must have looked a lot like Crown Vic headlights in people’s rearview mirrors. We’d be on the highway, going around 75-80 at night and as we got close to other cars they’d slam on their brakes. If they were in the left lane they’d slam on their brakes and jump to the right lane. It was kind of funny.
They don’t in Arkansas.
There will totally be new Charger police cars, like I give it a 95% chance
Has a 4-door been confirmed for the replacement? I thought it was coupe only at this point?
Coupe and Sedan in both I6 and EV
Supposedly, Police Explorers lack the roof rails civilian Explorers have. I’ve noticed that to be true so far in my checking. But that’s a small detail to try and pick up on, and useless at night.
I saw a Cherokee SRT pulling people over the other day. The cops assigned to same stretch of highway to catch speeders are almost always in unmarked cars at this point.
Funnily enough, the interim police chief in my little town has been driving a civilian F150 around causing some slight panic. Lots of people have been asking about the “suspicious silver truck” driving slowly through the neighborhoods.
This is correct in the DC area, at least.
No roof rails on PIUs – not needed. An unmarked PIU is going to be awfully hard to spot at night. The large majority of unmarked cars have the cop-car steel wheels and are usually ordered in conservative colors, and they all have A-pillar spotlights. That’s probably the quickest tell.
Too bad Carbon Motors got splashed with some Sea Foam by the Department of Energy and got rinsed away. Their purpose-built E7 cruiser was pretty cool.
A few weeks after getting my license in 1994, I did a smoky burnout through a Michigan Left in the dark, then began racing a car that had crawled right up my ass. I got north of 110mph and started leaving my pursuer in the dust. About 5 seconds after that he lit me up with the reds and blues. Unfortunately for me, he was driving one of the new Ford Crown Victorias and my brain was trained to watch for Caprice headlights.
Why are cop cars not minivans? Seems like best ingress and egress for officers and perps. Readily available storage space for their tacticool weapons. Available AWD….
Modern day Paddy Wagon
We’ve had them since the original Dodge Caravan days in the Montreal area.
There’s still some on the road today, but they tend to be the “command vehicles” with a desk setup in the back.
I’ve also seen a few as both undercover patrol, and separately as ‘swat’ vehicles where you can nonchalantly roll into a neighbourhood in a Toyota Sienna with four guys and a pile of gear.
Driving through rural PA recently, I spotted a few F150 police vehicles on the road.
Generally durability over time is the biggest concern most likely.
Because while you could modify one to cop-spec, it’s easier to use an SUV that is already most of the way there. IE, already has a high output engine option, and I suspect ground clearance is a big one too
Back in the day, the police cars were Caprice, Diplomat, and LTD, all of which had the same headlight/park lamp arrangement. Made them really easy to spot.
Modern black Explorers with blacked-out livery are almost invisible.
There’s an undercover Mustang round these parts, and a Camaro, too. Thanks, I hate it.
The Cops in Des Moines used to run impounded drug cars as unmarked police cars it seemed like. some of those rides would have never been approved by city officials for use otherswise, I have to believe.
Who’d have thought a Dodge would be the last of the V8 interceptors?
And not a Ford? Sad days for the end of civilisation.
Ford will still likely sell a few V8 Mustangs in various markets for interstate speed interceptors. At least Ford did not fall victim to the optional V8 pony car Axe.
Well, the rangos are working out for isp so well, with oil cooler explosions and all
Or how they were pushing the v6s so hard they were blowing up left and right for a while.
Most of my towns pd’s and now isp are packing Durangos and some tahoes, but a sprinkle of silverados as well, soon itl all be trucks.
I’m all for them going to trucks, makes em way easier to spot from afar when they’re doing their hidey hole speed traps
And the Explorers are easy to spot as they don’t have roof racks. Well, there’s an upper trim civilian model without them, but they’re fairly rare in my neck of the woods, so a bald one is nine out of ten times looking at you.
Plus the police explorer is the only explorer that doesn’t have the flat thin LED strip in front. So if you see any Explorer coming up without a strip move over and slow down!
Or a roof rack if no light bar
The exploders are slowly gaining favor here with the town pd
“a taller vehicle platform like the Tahoe that will offer troopers an improved visual perspective to detect drivers violating distracted driving laws or spotting a vehicle being driven in an aggressive manner that threatens other motorist’s safety,”
Oh, please. Everyone else is driving the same elevated-H-point SUVs, and that driving position doesn’t do squat for them.
They can at least see “through” the other SUV’s windshield s vs looking at body panels when they’re in the cars.
…spotting a vehicle being driven in an aggressive manner that threatens other motorist’s safety,” said Col. Bill Bryant, director of the Arkansas State Police.
From what I’ve seen on youtube, most aggressive drivers in Arkansas are Arkansas State Police trying to PIT people for running a stop sign.
Also there’s that one awesome ‘Blackout Charger’ legend. He baits the police into chasing him, lets them reel him in a bit and then kills his lights and disappears. He’s been doing it for years apparently.
It’s Arkansas.
What else do we expect?
“Elwood: It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?”
Jake: “Fix the cigarette lighter”
All the cops I know prefer the SUVs because it’s easier to get in and out with all the gear they’re wearing.
Seems like a minivan would be even easier with the low-floor height and the fact most minivans have far more spacious cabins.
3 1/2 year service life for a Charger, in the meantime I know of several departments near me (including the state police) who are still running some ca 14 year old Crown Victorias in regular use (and generally replacing them with body on frame Tahoes when the time comes)
I’ve met at least three officers in the past few years was were driving Chargers. None of them liked it citing lack of interior room. Seems odd but who am I to argue?
A former coworker was a part-time deputy sheriff, and his complaint about the Charger was less the size of the interior but the ergonomics. His primary complaint was the seats weren’t shaped right for wearing a utility belt, which then led to positioning the seat in a way that compromised other aspects like visibility and leg room. I remember his glee when someone T-boned his patrol car in a parking lot, as it meant he might get a new Silverado to patrol in (spoiler: he got another Charger).
I dunno about the front seats, but the back seats of the Explorer don’t have much room either. My car was totaled about six weeks ago, several hours from home, and the responding officer was kind enough to take my girlfriend and I to a hotel. There wasn’t really space for me to grab much of anything from the car. He did make a comment about “at least I don’t have a Charger” so I’d guess the space in those is worse… which surprises me after having one for a rental. It felt massive on the inside compared to my former Civic.
It’s not so much the inherent ergonomics of the factory stock Charger interiors themselves, but all of the extra patrol gear that gets built in (and is unmovable) before the humans and all their gear try to get in and live there for 12-14 hours a day. The HUGE added on center console with all the light and siren controls and the laptop/display/keyboard built in and attached on to it really cramps it up in there.
The worst is the fucking cage (necessary, but still..) and how it limits the seat bottom travel backwards at the same time as forcing the seatback more and more straight up and forward as you try to move the entire seat back as far as possible. At 6’2 (most of it in the arms and legs) it is impossible to sit comfortably, as you feel you’re being constantly squeezed forward into the steering wheel and pedals, after shoehorning yourself down and inside. Add on all the gear, boots/belt/vest, etc. plus the heavy jacket and hat in rainy or winter weather and it is absolutely claustrophobic compared to the Explorer (better) or the old Crown Vic (best) in there.
A big, roaring V8 is not necessarily required for a police car. NYC police cars were 6 cylinder cars from the days of “6 in a row won’t go. I’m not positive if they all were, but a large number of CHP Dodges were/are V-6s (as told to me by the brother of 2 CHP officers). The 6s go fast enough to get into trouble with and 800hp probably wouldn’t help end a pursuit any quicker than a radio and a spike strip.
For sure you do not need a V8 (or an EcoBoost V6 in a PIU) if you’re doing patrol in a city. Nearly all Chicago PD patrol units bought in the last ~4 years are hybrids, which have more than enough power and give a huge decrease in operating costs. A V8 for highway patrol, sure.
Been seeing a bunch of Wagoneers in nyc with the red and blues. I guess it makes sense for transporting VIPs and what not but seems like a wildly overpriced vehicle for an officer. But then again Tahoes are pretty common trooper vehicles so what do I know?
Yeah, I don’t get the large SUVs except in the context of K9 units, maybe.
An Explorer/PIU or Durango is plenty big enough for a canine cage. I don’t think any cages are made for Wagoneers.
Fleet buyers get prices and options the rest of us can only dream of ( column shifters! ), so there is no telling what the price or equipment is.
Also, I still see NYPD Smart cars. Sort of suggests a “take on prisoners” attitude that can’t be good.
A marked patrol unit with a cage, cameras and all the usual equipment will, for a large fleet buyer or someone who buys off of one of their contracts, cost around $55-65k
Does it come from the manufacturer with all that stuff, or does the car go to an outfitter who installs the electronics, lights and stuff?
Upfitters install all that equipment (though there is a limited amount of lighting that you can get from Ford). There are a lot of options out there and everyone wants something a little different.
NYPD or just the ‘special’ people using reds and blues illegally? The amount of civilians running reds and blues in NYC is ridiculous.
Alabama for sure, Missippi and other southeast states allow contractors and tow trucks to run red & blues. Very confusing when rolling up on a work site or stalled car.
I saw what looked like an emergency vehicle on the road – enough lights I would have gotten out of the way if it had come up behind me. Not parked up, just cruising on the interstate, lights going nuts.
It was a mobile detailing service. I’ve seen several other such vehicles since then running bright, fast red and blue lights. A landscaping company, a car audio ad-car. Sigh.
yeah that too, whenever i see a hyundai with red and blues i roll my eyes