I was wondering if the local police in the UK tool around in nice cars like Jaguar “X” or “S” Types…or do they jmake do with plebian sh*boxes like Fords?
Here in the US, most PD’s have FORD Crown Vics…it’s a large, RWD car that’s been around forever. The car has been in production so long, that all the bugs are out of it.
Anyway, WHAT do your police drive? And do they WRECK at lot of them? 
It varies depending on where you are. There are several regional police forces around the UK. They all source they’re vehicles seperately, so they all look around for the best deal they can get.
The standard cop pootles around in something small like a Vauxhall Astra (Vauxhall is the British name for GM). These guys tend to be called out for domestic disturbances, cat in a tree etc, so there is no need for a serious vehicle.
On the motorways though, they tend to get something a bit more powerful.
You do see fords, but more common are Vauxhalls and Range Rovers. Often they will have a large engine, and have it tweaked for better performance.
I have seen some using Jaguars. It just depends where they can get a decent car for a decent price.
And, I’ve only ever seen one wrecked police car in my life. From what I’ve seen on TV, the American cops are much more aggressive in pursuit. I’ve seen American cops doing a “Fishtail” on TV (which involves nudging the rear of the other car, trying to make it skid).
British cops aren’t allowed to do this. They are supposed to just follow the bad guys. Often, you’ll get a helicopter involved as well. The “just follow” method seems to work quite well. Sooner or later the badguys either panic, and try to abandon the car, or get to where they were going, usually their own house. Either way, they are quickly apprehended once they leave the car.
If the car shows no sign of stopping, the police will also employ a stinger. They will radio another cop up ahead of the pursuit, and they will put a line of spikes on the road. This will puncture all four of the tyres. The stinger is designed to be set up and taken down quickly, so it only affects the bad guys car.
TV sort of gives the impression that every chase in America ends up like a scene from the blues brothers.
Not England, I know (or did you mean the whole of the UK?) - but in North Wales in the late '80s, some of the forces had police Minis. I shit you not! I don’t know if they were ever used to haul people down the station, but seeing a Mini painted like a cop car was a very funny sight.
Very handy for chasing people down all those welsh Mines.
(thats it - i can never go to wales again…)
On motorways you see larger Vauxhalls, Volvos, MG-ZT, and there are a very small number of Porsches and other fast cars for pursuits
As the others have said – it varies. Quite often, a local car manufacturer will give the police a good deal. For example, a couple of years ago, Coventry police had quite a lot of Peugeot cars, because Peugeot had a plant nearby.
For round town, as mentioned, they generally have smaller cars: Vauxhall Astras, the occasional Ford Focus, etc…
Motorway police tend to have something a bit more meaty. For example, Cambridgeshire police have a collection of high-powered Volvo estates. They move pretty quickly.
Apparently, Manchester police have been trying out some Impreza WRX cars. Wouldn’t like to find one of those after me, certainly.
There are loads of different models used. I’ve seen Ford Fiestas (tiny) Vauxhall Astras (think Chevy Cavalier), Land Rovers, Range Rovers, and some tricked out high speed persuit Volvo 850 turbo estates (station wagons), and even a Smart
LOL. They should do a film called “The Welsh Job”
In the early 80s, police cars (in Lancashire at any rate) used to be plain white Fiat Pandas (hence the name Panda car for a police car), with minimal markings to indicate that this was a police car. My parents used to own a white Fiat Panda, and apparantly, it was rather amusing when people assumed that they were police or something like that…
Slight nitpick, but I’m sure that the name Panda car was around a long time before the Fiat Panda was released
OK. I was making an educated guess, and going on what my parents had told me.
Correct - they were calle Panda cars when I was a kid, which was, er, before the 80s. I always thought it was because of the black and white markings that they used to have.
Then we had jam sandwiches, also named after the paint job.
only if they were in volved in a persuit with Morris Miners.
I thought most US police cars were Chevy Caprices… eh. It’s probably regional here, too, same as it is there. Actually in Arizona a lot of the Highway Patrol are in Ford Tauruses… or at least they were years ago.
I remember reading about the problems that the police had in the '60s with bank robberies etc. The police had Morris Minors and Austin 7s and the like but the bad guys always used a Jag so they could easily outrun the police. It took a lot of pressure from the police to be allowed to get proper cars (4.2 litre Jags).
The main objection that came from the top brass was that the constables would be driving better cars than the police chiefs.
On a side note, the car that Inspector Morse uses in the series is actually owned and driven by a retired bank robber.
Keats: They say he’s going to do a job in Wales.
Mr Bridger: Well I hope he likes Leeks. They serve them four times a day in the Welsh prisons…
I’m sure there’s an added wittisicm about sheep in there somewhere as well. Except my brain can’t quite get it together.
So,in a well-to-do town likw The Isle of Wight, the local police would have Jaguar XJS’s? That would make the job of police officer pretty attractive! Any towns have Rolls-Royce patrol cars? :rolleyes:
Chevy stopped making the Caprice a few years ago, so now the available cars are basically the Crown Vic and the Impala.
Well… except for that inconvenient exploding gas tank thing. :eek: