McGruff - The Crime Dog! Wrote:
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> Va. State Police getting new cruisers
> Saturday - 6/16/2012, 5:47pm ET
>
http://www.wtop.com/120/2906695/Va-State-Police-ge
> tting-new-cruisers
>
> RICHMOND, Va. - The Virginia State Police will
> begin the largest transition of its cruiser fleet
> in two decades this fall.
>
> The agency has ordered 144 new Ford Taurus
> Interceptors for about $24,000 apiece. They will
> replace the Ford Crown Victoria Police
> Interceptor, which is being phased out now that
> the automaker has discontinued production of the
> line.
>
> The Richmond Times-Dispatch (
>
http://bit.ly/LkZ0BR) reports that the State
> Police unveiled the new car Friday at an event for
> its 90 trooper trainees. Spokeswoman Corinne
> Geller says the new troopers will be the last
> class to get Crown Vics and the first to get the
> new Tauruses.
>
> Most of the department's 1,100 Crown Vics will
> remain on the road for a while, but Geller says
> the public should also begin seeing the Taureses
> in October.
Too bad Ford quit making the Crown Vic. The new taurus is a nice cop car and is available in all wheel drive but it is a unibody and will wind up totaled in crash situations and PITT maneuver situations.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIT_maneuver)
The Crown vic's are on a frame and are often easily repaired with parts from other wrecked cop cars. Even if the Crown vic frame was bent it could be straightened and the car repainted and used for other state motorpool assignments that do not require high speed driving. Ford even has a chip that can be removed from the on board computer to limit the speed of the vehicle to 90 mph.
The bottom line is that the taxpayers will be buying more cars.