Discussion
Now this is a serious question..
Why is it that the police (around here anyway) feel the need to "waste" tax payers money on flashy cop cars, theres a expensive to buy and expensive to run BMW X5 rolling about down here with all the police markings on. Why? wheres the need to have it? They could have had 3-4 cars instead for the cost of that thing!
Anyone know why? seems a hell of a waste? i can understand the need for some fast police cars since the public are using quick cars but an X5! why?? and the traffic and roads round here make evading the police next to impossible during the day anyway.
Why is it that the police (around here anyway) feel the need to "waste" tax payers money on flashy cop cars, theres a expensive to buy and expensive to run BMW X5 rolling about down here with all the police markings on. Why? wheres the need to have it? They could have had 3-4 cars instead for the cost of that thing!
Anyone know why? seems a hell of a waste? i can understand the need for some fast police cars since the public are using quick cars but an X5! why?? and the traffic and roads round here make evading the police next to impossible during the day anyway.
Cynics the lot of you, don't forget just how big a discount they may be getting on certain vehicles. Certain car makers are more than happy to have BiB driving their vehicles, and will discount accordingly. But I do agree, it doesn't look good when the BiB are seen driving round in what are perceived as flashy motors. Yet another example of the lack of public relations skill, or the lack of caring about what people think, that seems all too common these days at the higher levels of the BiB.
We currently get Focus LX TDCIs for response work. There's talk of them being replaced with Hyundais as CID have been issued with a fleet of Getz 
The only 'tasty' cars on fleet are in specialist roles such as traffic and firearms, where a Focus just won't cut it. They used to be Volvos, the Mercs, Now it's BMWs. There's one X5 in my area, and there are some 530Ds being introduced as the Volvos and Merc C/E classes are phased out.
The only 'tasty' cars on fleet are in specialist roles such as traffic and firearms, where a Focus just won't cut it. They used to be Volvos, the Mercs, Now it's BMWs. There's one X5 in my area, and there are some 530Ds being introduced as the Volvos and Merc C/E classes are phased out.
I live in Glasgow and almost every traffic car here is diesel BMW 530. I imagine the reason for having them is that they are reliable, have the required performance, carry all the kit, give reasonable fuel consumption and a good resale value.
Most police fleets are run by a civilian fleet manager, who will have overall costs very much at the forefront of his mind when deciding which cars to buy.
Up here they use Mercedes ML 4x4s for motorway patrol, and I've seen them towing everything from a cars to fully laden artics which were obstructing the motorway, I don't think you'd be doing much of that with a Ford Focus.
Most police fleets are run by a civilian fleet manager, who will have overall costs very much at the forefront of his mind when deciding which cars to buy.
Up here they use Mercedes ML 4x4s for motorway patrol, and I've seen them towing everything from a cars to fully laden artics which were obstructing the motorway, I don't think you'd be doing much of that with a Ford Focus.
So, do you want a well equipped police force, with access to a wide variety of vehicles suitable for the varied tasks of Police Officers - from Trafpol, beat bobby, to counter terrorism units, or to slash funding and have the Police driving around in Hyundai Getz'a and Suzuki Jimmy's?
If you want to look at waste, then you'd worry about the bean counters and civil servants, not what the front line coppers are driving about in.
The ignorance and attitude of some on here is making me feel sorry for the BiB in general - given the ill-informed crap on this forum, god knows what you get from the great unwashed out on the street...
If you want to look at waste, then you'd worry about the bean counters and civil servants, not what the front line coppers are driving about in.
The ignorance and attitude of some on here is making me feel sorry for the BiB in general - given the ill-informed crap on this forum, god knows what you get from the great unwashed out on the street...
End of the day if you have some heathen trying to get away from the law after an armed robbery in something quite tasty - the plod are going to need something that can keep up with something rapid and as mentioned previous they have to carry loads of equipment round with them too so something like an X5 is likely to be quite a decent candidate to do the job. I can't see 'em using a Ssangyong Radius 
If they were forced to use smaller cars then you would need one Focus (for example) for pursuit and one for carrying all the stuff, therefore spreading out two fuel costs etc...
I also thought that a lot of the unmarked cars come from seized assests of drug dealers and arrests made - such as that Porsche 911 that Gloucester plod apparently have.
If they were forced to use smaller cars then you would need one Focus (for example) for pursuit and one for carrying all the stuff, therefore spreading out two fuel costs etc...
I also thought that a lot of the unmarked cars come from seized assests of drug dealers and arrests made - such as that Porsche 911 that Gloucester plod apparently have.
Adam_W said:
M5 Dave.. i dont live on a motorway tho..
Neither do I, but I take it you do drive on them, and would rather that the police had a vehicle capable of moving a minor obstruction out of the way quickly and getting the traffic moving, than have it at a standstill for an hour waiting for a tow truck. Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff