# Cop car question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-car-question/166633>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 5, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-car-question/166633 "2003-04-05T03:54:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-car-question/166633/1 "2003-04-05T03:54:39Z")

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We have, well, a variety of law enforcement vehicles in Houston, but I’m curious about something I’ve noticed not only with HPD cruisers, but those of other cities as well. What’s the deal with the occasional (definitely _not_ all) cop car you see with 7-8 little antennae on their roof? Are the roving command centers, or some such?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-car-question/166633/2 "2003-04-05T03:57:44Z")

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Some are used as repeaters to increase the range of portable walkie-talkies, some are used for the NCIC computers which report data on a persons criminal background. An array of four antennae in a square is a Lojack array. There may be others as well.