If the Dallas Police Department gets the approval... the "W's" home state will get cleaner air... And you thought it imppossibel. All joking aside this is cool.... --- --- --- --- Police cruisers may go natural If Crown Vic gas conversion OK'd, force would be U.S.' largest 09:07 PM CST on Wednesday, December 3, 2003 By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News If the Dallas City Council proceeds with a plan to convert 175 of its police patrol cars into natural-gas-burning vehicles, the Police Department would own more of the ecologically friendly cruisers than any other force nationwide. Compared with their gasoline-burning cousins, the natural-gas-burning 2003 Ford Crown Victoria cruisers are sluggish. Their range is limited. And Dallas police officers say they hate them. "Nobody has anything good to say about them. They're no good for police work," said Michael Walton, president of the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police. "Police officers need to be able to compete with the people who are doing the speeding, who are trying to get away from us. We can't with these cars." Several council members Wednesday voiced concerns about the vehicles' performance. But the council appears poised to vote Monday on whether to award a contract for the conversion. Under the plan, Dallas would use more than $1.5 million in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality money – about 80 percent of the total cost – to fund the project. The overall differences between the conventional and natural-gas-burning cruisers are minimal, Steve Park, the city's Equipment and Building Service Department director, told the council Wednesday during a briefing session. While the natural-gas vehicles sacrifice some performance, they're less likely to catch fire than their gasoline-fueled counterparts during a high-speed crash, Mr. Park said. Their fuel tanks are thicker and no natural-gas-burning Crown Victoria has ever exploded, he said. More than a dozen law-enforcement officers in the United States have died from fuel-tank fires in rear-end collisions of Crown Victorias. Dallas officials are suing Ford in connection with the death of Officer Patrick Metzler, who died last year after a speeding motorist struck his Crown Victoria patrol car from behind, causing it to erupt in flames. The natural-gas-burning cars also spew less pollution into Dallas' chronically dirty summertime air, Mr. Park said. "These cars don't have that tire-squealing, adrenaline-rush feel," Mr. Park told the council. "But they're good cars." "If you're an officer chasing someone who's trying to get away, don't you want that tire-squealing adrenaline rush?" Mayor Pro Tem John Loza countered. "These cars are a crapshoot. I'm not at all convinced." A gasoline-fueled Crown Victoria cruiser generates 235 horsepower, accelerates to 60 mph in nine seconds and boasts a range of 228 miles on one tank of fuel. The natural-gas version generates 175 horsepower, accelerates to 60 mph in 12 seconds and will travel up to 192 miles on a single tank. The only other area police agency to employ natural-gas-burning cruisers is the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport police force. The Mesa, Ariz., Police Department uses 75 of the vehicles – currently the most of any department nationwide, according to statistics provided by Mr. Park. Officer Walton said he hopes council members scrap the conversion plan. "Let us drive the tried-and-true squad cars that we've been driving for years and years," he said. E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com Link to WFAA.com (registration required)
"Police officers need to be able to compete with the people who are doing the speeding, who are trying to get away from us. We can't with these cars." I guess they'll have to offset those tickets by planting more fake drugs on immigrants or arresting people for things that aren't against the law. Actually, if they really want 'em to keep up, they should give 'em Corvettes or something.
