CHP unveils stealth patrol cars

Sac Bee ^ | 6/12/02 | Matt Barrows

[NormsRevenge]

The California Highway Patrol rolled out its latest weapon in big rig enforcement Wednesday - a fleet of white Camaros designed to blend into highway traffic.

Seventy Camaros - they cost $25,000 each and can reach 160 mph - will be deployed throughout the state, six of them in the Sacramento area.

[NormsRevenge]

OH oh!! Look Out LeadFoots

[Mo1]

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[Centurion2000]

I'm seeing a business opportunity for caltrop sales to Central Commiefirnia.

[b4its2late]

Wow. That's a switch. New York State Police have been using them for years.......

[VOA]

Seventy Camaros - they cost $25,000 each

Yep, just what the state with a budget deficit over $20 BILLION needs.
And this when the state has (at least from what I heard a few years ago) a long, steady
decline in traffic fatalities.

If the state was really serious about stopping speeders, they'd buy a couple of
Barrett .50 BMG rifles, put them aboard helicopters and put a round through the block
of our "chase of the day" car. Preferably once all the news helicopters have their
broadcast links going.

Too bad the ACLU and some of the limp-wristed police chiefs out here would disapprove.

[cadillac cowboy]

"Seventy Camaros - they cost $25,000 each and can reach 160 mph."

Why not 300mph?....then they'd need only half as many.

[riverrunner]

if they put officers that will write tickets in them they well pay for themselfs in less then a year.

[Jhoffa_]

I suppose there is a NEED for 160 mph camaros in Cali?

The State Police here got 5.0 mustangs some years back.. They kept wrecking them and, well.. that was the end of the mustangs.

They were just high powered, taxpayer funded toys the cops didn't need.

[Thumper1960]

Sure!

The policia need fast cars in Cali. They need lift kits, too. They should be able to make those front ends bounce all the way across four lanes of traffic. Sure would impress the illegals.

I wonder how well a 160 mph Camaro would keep up with....oh, say.....a white Ford Bronco?

[Jhoffa_]

No kidding.. And I thought a crown vic would top out at >130 mph.

PLUS, they have helecopters..

And they need camaros now too?

(Hey, it's just tax dollars...)

[VOA]

if they put officers that will write tickets in them they well pay for themselfs in less then a year.

I'm not against good patrolling to keep folks speeds in check.

It's just my little fantasy that someday somebody will get peeved at these
police pursuits that take the resources of one or more patrol cars (of course, I'm
talking about the LA metro area), all the gas being burned and the risk of
crashes that somebody will just stop the madness with a couple of .50 cals through the
hood of the car.

Besides, one of the real speed problems is the proliferations of motorcycles
(racer-types) crashing and burning...or scaring the crap out of Grandpa and Grandma
on the two-lanes in the boonies.
LA Times had an article about this topic and the amount of resources the
authorities have to pour into reducing the carnage of this extreme motorcycling.

[Thumper1960]

Heck. My point was that they only "chased" that double-homicide "suspect" Simpson at what?.....40 mph???

If the Chippies want to take a bite out of crime, why don't they round up the illegals and leave honest gun owners alone?

Answer: in the land of fruits and nuts a fast car impresses the girls....and the *guys*.

Know whut ah mean, Vern?

[Askel5]

The policia need fast cars in Cali. They need lift kits, too. They should be able to make those front ends bounce all the way across four lanes of traffic. Sure would impress the illegals.

I wonder how well a 160 mph Camaro would keep up with....oh, say.....a white Ford Bronco?

CHEERS!

[tubebender]

Seventy Camaros - they cost $25,000 each and can reach 160 mph

...yeah but will they catch those illegals in the stolen Honda Accords ?

[El Gato]

White Camaro's "blend in"? In south Texas maybe..nah not even there. A mix of metalic green, red, yellow, maroon, and of course midnight blue and black, would be less conspicuous than white. I bet they got the hubcaps or wheel covers too, rather than alloy wheels. Then there are all those antennae on the back...

[AmericaUnited]

can reach 160 mph

Too bad... 40MPH too slow to keep up with one of these babies.

[Michael Barnes]

The ONLY need I can see for 160 MPH Camaro's is the rice rockets that blaze around. I recall when living out there thsoe damn guys on rice rockets doin 80 PLUS in rush hour traffic (riding the white lines)..Late night on I-5, pfft..foreget it.

[Michael Barnes]

re: #16

Damn...what is THAT? I would imagine the Camaro's would be a bit sluggish compared to it...

[monkeyshine]

How long has it been like this? Where the cops make decisions based on how many people they think they can trick into thinking they aren't around.

Isn't the point for them to be visible, so that people won't speed? Or is the point to give tickets?

[Cloud William]

Looks like a Suzuki Hayabusa. Damn near *everything* is sluggish in comparison.

Camaros used as police pursuit vehicles? Nothing new there. Ford had that niche market to itself until 1994 when they changed the Mustang and dropped the stripped-down V8-powered LX model from the lineup. The Camaro became the better "bang for the buck" V8 musclecar and Chevy would sell the cops a stripped-down model with all the go-fast parts. The 5-liter Mustangs were used by the Louisiana State Police for years, and I know that they replaced them with Camaros.

Interesting that this is big news when the CHP is involved, more than a decade after it became a common practice elsewhere.