The Daily Orange

A lot of thought goes into choosing a police vehicle. They need to be extremely durable, comfortable to sit in for hours each day, big enough to fit equipment in, but small enough to be light and nimble. They need to be fast and powerful to react quickly, but also fuel efficient.

In an attempt to achieve all this, Anthony Callisto, director and chief of the Department of Public Safety, has assembled a 29-car fleet of a variety of different police package vehicles. It comprises one gem car for use on the Quad, five Ford Escape Hybrids, three Dodge Durangos, one Ford Expedition, three Ford Explorers, two Ford vans, one Mercury Sable all-wheel-drive, two Chevrolet Impalas, 10 Ford Crown Victorias and one Toyota Camry that will be traded in for a Mercury Milan Hybrid.

To withstand being used around the clock, each "Police Package vehicle" includes upgraded suspension and transmission. There is room in the dashboard for all the computer hardware, and each trunk is fitted with space for all necessary enforcement.

"We typically buy five cars a year. We try to trade in and rotate, so with a 30-car fleet you have a rotation out every six years," Callisto said.

Buying five cars a year is quite expensive to say the least, but cost is only one of the factors that play into the decision.

"We look not only at the operation, the fuel economy of those vehicles, the size of those vehicles, and the durability of those vehicles and what kind of equipment can go into those vehicles, but we also look at our impact on the environment," Callisto said.

Environmental impact is something Callisto says he strongly takes into consideration and is the reason behind purchasing five Ford Escape Hybrids. The hybrids are there to balance out the less fuel-efficient vehicles, such as the Dodge Durangos and Ford Crown Vics. Although the Crown Victoria is the car of choice at the moment, mechanically, the car remains essentially unchanged since its introduction in the mid-1990s.

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