The Boca Raton Police Department has a fleet of unmarked cars that include hybrids.
Photo from Boca Raton Police Chief Daniel Alexander’s Facebook page
By Rich Pollack
There was a time when you could spot a police car, marked or unmarked, a mile away.
After all, just about all the police cars on the road in South Florida were Ford Crown Victorias, those large boxy models with the big grill and the square headlights.
Even the unmarked police cars used in most TV shows are Crown Victorias.
But that’s all changing. These days, that Toyota Prius or Ford Fusion next to you at the red light might just be driven by a detective or possibly even a police chief.
Even before Ford stopped making its Crown Victoria, about a year ago, local police departments were looking at nontraditional vehicles for their plain-clothes officers, who generally didn’t have to worry about having to chase down a fast-fleeing felon.
In Boca Raton, for example, the department retains a fleet of what it calls nontraditional police cars that include a handful of 7-year-old Priuses and a lot of other vehicles most people would never suspect are being driven by police.
And that’s the whole idea, according to Boca Raton Assistant Police Chief Edgar Morley.
“When you need to blend into the community, you need vehicles that blend into the community as well,” Morley says. “Our officers drive everything and anything.”
And it’s not just stealth that is leading police departments in South Florida away from those large, gas-guzzling vehicles. It’s also economics and environmental consciousness.
In Boca Raton, 13 of the vehicles driven by detectives and administrative personnel are hybrids.
That fleet includes a few Ford Fusions and a couple of older Mercury Milans.
You’ll also find hybrid vehicles in the fleets of other area police departments.
In Boynton Beach, for example, detectives and administrative police officers are driving four Ford Fusions and another four will be arriving soon.
One of the downsides to hybrids, and what might be keeping departments from using more of them, is the high purchase price. Hybrids in some models can have an upfront cost that is $5,000 to $10,000 more than traditional versions of the same model.
How much departments save taxpayers in fuel costs — and environmental costs — over the long-term still remains to be seen.
“It’s not just a monetary issue, it’s also an environmental issue,” say Boca Raton’s Morley.
While having hybrids and other nontraditional cars in a police fleet may work for some larger departments, the practice doesn’t always work for smaller departments like those serving Palm Beach County’s coastal communities.
In towns such as Ocean Ridge and Highland Beach, most cars in the police fleet are used for road patrol and are designed specifically for that purpose.
With the phasing out of the Crown Victoria, more and more departments will be shifting to new Ford Police Interceptors, the Chevy Caprice or Dodge Charger designed specifically for police use.
The Gulf Stream police department will be making a dramatic change to its five- car fleet, planning to phase in Ford Police Interceptor Utility SUVs, with the first one expected in early spring.
Police Chief Garrett Ward said the department, which buys two cars a year, found that the SUV was better suited for the town’s usage than the Ford sedan, which has a similar engine and fuel mileage.
He said the department expects to make a final decision on whether to convert the whole fleet to SUVs based on the how well the early vehicles perform.
In Ocean Ridge, the department recently began using a brand-new Ford Police Interceptor Utility SUV, built on the Ford Explorer frame. The vehicle, purchased with money donated by an independent group that supports department needs, will replace a 2002 Ford Escape.
That vehicle, like all others in the Ocean Ridge Fleet, is equipped with a powerful and durable engine and has room for the equipment road patrol officers require.
“Patrol is patrol,” says Chief Chris Yannuzzi. “They need a mobile office.”
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