Unfortuneately, Crown Victorias are one of the few full sized sedans left. Ford also supplies a 'police package' (has to do with suspention and wiring or some such stuff). Squads are used for more than just chasing other cars. There is a little problems of transporting suspects. This is hard to do in a pick-up. Squads need a back seat that is large enough to get a plexi screen and steel panel behind the front seat and still leave room for an average adult to get into the back seat. It also needs a front seat wide enough to seat two officers and a whole bunch of equipment in between them.
It used to be that the squads had snow tires put on in the fall, but with radial tires, this was deemed unnecessary. The cheapest and most efficient answer would be chains, or better yet, studded tires. Studs are deemed too hard on the highways, and illegal in Minnesota. If they were allowed on emergency vehicles only, I don't think the damage would be notable. The department does have some SUV's. I think all of the K-9 cars are SUVs since Bowser makes prisoner transport unsatisfactory, anyhow. There are usually a couple SUVs per precincts for supervisors normally, but which the district squads use in bad weather. However, four-wheled drives are more expensive and when you count up the number of squads needed each year, believe me, this mounts up. Since I always have lived in the city, I had the opprtunity to work every blizzard. Oh fun!!! Now I do what I used to tell others; if you can't be part of the solution, stay home and don't contribute to the problem. Anne McCandless Jordan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
