Do you think City Police should drive Hybrid cars?

Question

In this day and age I think City Police should drive Hybrid vehicles. They're more fuel efficient and enviromentally friendly. What do you think?

One option would be the Ford Escape Hybrid. It has room enough to carry passengers in the rear seat and room enough in the back to carry equipment. And more than enough power for city use.

Answer 1

No because the Hybrid hasn't enough power yet to chase down criminals. I would be good to see the rest of government's fleet of vehicles go hybrid though.

Answer 2

Yes, when and if there is a Hybrid produced that can meet the needs of law enforcement. No, I do not support a wholesale replacement of the fleet, but as units are replaced due to their age or condition, the municipalities should at least evaluate whether or not a Hybrid vehicle would meet the need and if it would be cost effective.

Answer 3

As soon as they make one that:
1. Is large enough to transport a suspect behind a cage in the back seat
2. Is large enough to hold all of the gear they need.
3. Is fast enough to intercept most vehicles on the road.

I don't think hybrid cars are there yet.

"more than enough power for city use" - If we can only keep high speed car chases off the freeway you may have something.

Answer 4

I think City Police should drive vehicles that are powerful enough to do the job that needs to be done. Such as
* high speed pursuit of bank robbers
* transporiting suspects to lock up

So long as that premise has been obtained, then selecting something that is friendly to the city budget, appropriate to getting gassed up as needed, easy to be maintained, evironmentally friendly ... those are all secondary concerns.

Answer 5

Some agencies already use Hybrid vehicles, however, these vehicles are not optimal for ALL police work!

They are small and unable to handle the tasks of ordinary police vehicles.

What many cities do is use the vehicles in "non-essential" departments of the jurisdiction such as water, electric, parking enforcement etc.

Answer 6

Police already are using hybrids.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/08/rx_400h_heading.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/08/lexus_gs_450h_m.html
The Lexus RX400h and the Lexus GS450h have a great enough response as a performance police vehicle.

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/08/19/019198.html
http://www.spacemart.com/reports/British_Police_Force_To_Introduce_Greener_Cars_999.html
The Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius are used by London police as a support vehicle - transporting foot patrol officers to their duty areas from their operational bases, for example.

university police: http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2006/sept/hybrids06.shtml
sherriff's offices:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=2928547

http://www.naco.org/CountyNewsTemplate.cfm?template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11634 and http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A6629 (used for running warrants, and various light patrol duties)

comparison of a Toyota Prius with other common US police vehicles:
http://www.toyoland.com/prius/hybrid-police-cars.html
(also comments about the Mercury Mariner hybrid being used as a police vehicle)

Answer 7

As long as they have the same safety, speed, room, handling, and other criteria for a good police car.

Criers are not just our transportation. They are a tool to get the job done more effectively, they are our office. We keep pretty much anything and everything we could need in there. That's why they are such big cars.

Answer 8

I think it's unnecessary because there are less police cars out there on the streets than the other cars. We should worry about replacing those other cars to help out the environment instead.

Also, police cars should be using as much fuel as it needs to chase down criminals and respond quickly to emergencies. A Hybrid would be too slow for that (especially for the modded engines that police cars have?).

Answer 9

it is a good thought.
but then so was equipping all downtown patrols units with cushman carts in the 70's when we had a gas crisis (72 cents up from 23 cents)

ten-four--

then we had to catch the speeders and we all got corvettes, ever cruise down main street in a vette?? black and white daytona style??who got the kickback on that one??

Answer 10

Wont work...when was the last time you saw a prius chase down a mustang?