An article in TV Guide mentioned the fact that Miami police cars are all have manual transmissions.
Is this true? If so, what make & model does the Miami PD use? Is there a law enformcement reason for this, or is it simply a matter of “that’s the contract they signed.”
What is the date on that TV Guide?
Is it a current issue or 20 years old?
A quick google image search of “miami police car” returns lots of results of Crown Victorias and nothing else, and the Crown Vic is pretty much the defacto police car in the whole US.
As far as reason for a manual transmission goes; I can think of lots of reasons why I would hate to have a manual transmission in my patrol car, but not a single reason to want one. Cops have to do lots of things while driving with their right hands. At the very least they have a radio lights, and many police departments also have computers in the cars now that are connected to the dispatch center. All of these things sit right in the between of the front seats. Now that I think about it I don’t think you could find room for a shifter in any police car I am familiar with.
That doesn’t make much sense to me. 99% of the police cars since the 1980s have been Caprices and Crown Vics, neither of which was available with a manual transmission (not saying there aren’t any oneoffs or retrofits, but it was not a widespread factory option).
It also doesn’t make sense considering that police cars often have the computer and radio equipment mounted right where a shifter console would protrude. Officers also have to be able to use other equipment while driving, which is more difficult if you’re shifting a manual transmission.
I would want more of a cite than TV Guide before I’d buy it.
The only police cars I’ve ever seen with manual transmissions were the old 5.0 Mustangs that the California Highway Patrol would sometimes use the on the 5 freeway. I think I still saw them in use around the late 90’s/early 2000. I saw one used by the LAPD, also on the 5 freeway. I’m sure they must all be retired by now.
It was kind of funny. Obviously they’re for catching would be runners on the open highway, but if they ever actually caught one and wanted to bring the guy in, they’d either have to wait awhile for a regular 4-door cruiser to arrive, or fold the set over and cram the detainee in the backseat 
I know that during the '90s, there was also a manual transmission police package of the Camaro.
I know the Camaro continued in police package until its eventual demise. I don’t know if the manual transmission and the police package were available up until then.
As an aside, the reason the cops used to use sporting cars like the Mustang and Camaro was that full-sized interceptors were dog slow up until the early to mid '90s.
The 351-equipped Ford LTD Crown Victoria made through '91 had a 0-60 time somewhere in the above 10 second range and a top speed somewhere short of 120. The 350-equipped Chevy Caprice made through '90 wasn’t a whole lot better.
They both made very nice low-end torque but really didn’t have the juice you would want to apprehend a speeder, especially one who just blew past you going 90 MPH. The longer an officer has to hurdle his vehicle down the highway at high speed just to catch up, the more time traffic has to do something stupid and cause a wreck and the more time the speeder has to get off the road and get lost.
The '92 and up Crown Vic should have turned in sub-9 second zero to sixty times and topped out between 120 and 130, which was a marked improvement. The Caprice Classic got very fast from '94-96 when the LT1 was on offer (faster than same-year Mustangs in some cases). As a result, it became less important to have Mustangs and Camaros in speed enforcement and highway patrol applications.
Okay, an update and a retraction.
I’ll retract “LT1 Caprice Classic faster than same-year Mustang” before some rabid Mustang fan has a chance to bite me.
Nearly as fast, yes, but probably giving up a half-second zero to sixty.
And I’m showing that the '91 to '93 Caprice should have turned in zero to sixty in the high 9s and topped out just over 120.
Richmond VA still has at least one Camaro police car. They did a good stealth job on it too, the windows are tinted, there are no obvious extra antennas, and you can’t tell it’s a police car until they turn the lights on.
I’ve been 140 or more in a police Crown Vic or Caprice (can’t remember which it was.) It seemed pretty happy at that speed, it wasn’t straining too much.
If it was a Crown Vic you were either going downhill or had an inaccurate speedo.
An LT1-equipped Caprice tops out between 139 and 142 depending on whose test results you believe, so I’ll buy that.
Did you ever hear Dave Gardner’s routine about the beatnik cop with the NYPD who, the first day he drove an automatic-transmission cop car, had it brought back on a tow truck? 