Edmonton Journal

City police fleet almost all SUVs as last of the Crown Victorias age out

Ford Police Intercepto­r Utility now makes up 90 per cent of cop ‘cars’

- JONNY WAKEFIELD jwakefield@postmedia.com

A Ford Crown Victoria with Edmonton Police Service colours is a rare thing these days, but Jason Halayko still gets emails from officers hoping to put in a few more kilometres on one of the venerable patrol cars.

“I still get the odd email saying, ‘Please don’t take Charlie 23, it’s a Crown Vic, it’s my favourite,’ ” said Halayko, who manages the 800 vehicles in the Edmonton police fleet.

“I figure their bum is moulded to the seat perfectly,” he added with a laugh. “But unfortunat­ely, when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”

The Edmonton police is almost six years — the typical lifespan of a police cruiser — into the new generation of police vehicles built after Ford retired its beloved police intercepto­r vehicle.

Edmonton police relied on the Ford sedan from the early 1990s through 2011.

Now, you’re more likely to spot a cop SUV on Edmonton streets than a cop car. Nearly 90 per cent EPS’s patrol fleet is made up of the Ford Police Intercepto­r Utility, a version of the Explorer SUV modified for police use.

The reliance on SUVs makes Edmonton somewhat unique among Canada’s big city police department­s, some of which still use more cars than SUVs.

But as frustratio­n mounts with the new generation of police sedans, Edmonton may prove to be ahead of the curve.

REPLACING A CLASSIC

In 2012, the EPS began a yearlong trial to replace the Crown Vic, which Ford discontinu­ed in 2011.

Officers were given a number of makes and models to test in the line of duty, including police variants of the Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Tahoe, as well as the Ford Taurus and Explorer models.

Ford’s Police Intercepto­r Utility — the Explorer — emerged as the favourite.

“Their feedback was very proSUV,” Halayko said.

“They’re that much more comfortabl­e to drive. They’re up higher, better visibility, a little more ground clearance. So all those factors led to that decision.”

Now, the EPS’s 300-vehicle patrol fleet is 88 per cent SUV — a much higher percentage than in comparable police forces like Calgary and Ottawa.

Ottawa police stocked up on Taurus police cars after production ended on the Crown Vic, but last year began a shift to the Ford SUV, which currently makes up 30 to 35 per cent of the patrol fleet.

Gurdev Bal, fleet manager with the Ottawa Police Service, said the Taurus’s low front end wasn’t suited to Ottawa winters.

“They were going through a lot of front-end damage whenever they hit a snow pile,” he said.

“You’re looking at $2,000 to $2,500 in damage, which increases the downtime of the vehicle.”

Calgary’s force, meanwhile, is about one-third SUV, said Insp. Ken Thrower of the Calgary Police Service. Ford pickups and vans account for another third, while the Taurus makes up the remainder.

However, the force isn’t buying more cars or trucks, and expects to be a “two-horse” fleet made up of Explorers and vans in three to five years.

“We’re transition­ing to what Edmonton is doing, except we’ll maintain our vans also,” said Thrower.

“It looks like the trend across North America is going to the SUV utility for a variety of reasons.”

For Edmonton police, the Explorer’s biggest advantages were size, storage space and weight capacity.

The Explorer, which runs around $65,000, can carry about 800 pounds of cargo, almost three times the Crown Vic and double the Taurus. It also has a larger cabin than the new Ford sedan, which can be a tight fit for larger cops in winter gear.

“You can imagine if you’re in your office eight to ten hours a day, and it’s your car, you want that seat to fit comfortabl­y, so we can fit a much wider variety of members than we could before,” Halayko said

Both of the new Intercepto­rs are also available in all-wheel drive, unlike the Crown Vic.

Still, some officers are nostalgic for the old intercepto­r.

Halayko said each division still has a few Crown Vics left. The force decommissi­ons patrol cars after six years or 160,000 km, so the last of them are on the road now.

Last month, he got an email from a patrol member asking to hang on to a Crown Vic for few more weeks.

“I think they were transferri­ng out of patrol in a month and they wanted to keep it for their last month of patrol,” he said.

“Unfortunat­ely, it was already gone.”

I still get the odd email saying, ‘Please don’t take Charlie 23, it’s a Crown Vic, it’s my favourite.’

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