Stealth Dodge Chargers Join the California Highway Patrol

While returning home from a routine leisure patrol in Lake Tahoe last weekend, Telstar Logistics decided to do some reconnaissance at the California Highway Patrol's Fleet Operations Facility just off I-80 in West Sacramento. The Fleet Operations Facility is a centralized location where the CHP takes delivery of brand-new vehicles and preps them for duty by installing equipment like emergency lights, sirens, radios, and Highway Patrol decals.

Most of the time, the giant parking lot is packed with black-and-white Ford Crown Victoria Interceptors lined up in tidy rows like cute little ducklings. For example, the following is a photo of the facility we took back in April 2006.  As you can see, nothing but Crown Vics:

Last weekend, however, we saw something very different: long lines of new Dodge Chargers in a wide variety of colors — with no black-and-whites. Upon surveying the scene, we whipped out our handy dandy spy-cam to snap a few photos:

We then raced home to research our strange discovery. Here's what we learned:

According to Government Fleet, a trade journal, the CHP paid $1.9 million for 88 Dodge Chargers, paying $21,673 per charger. Most of the new cars are slated for undercover operation, although nine will be retained in Sacramento for training use. The order was placed last year, but it seems the agency has now taken delivery of its new undercover cars. And soon they'll be out on the streets.

To be sure, the new Chargers are stealthy.  Unlike Crown Vics, which scream COP CAR!! even when unmarked, there's not much about the CHP's new Chargers that would attract attention from even an alert motorist. No clunky steel wheels.  No visibly beefed-up suspension. No A-pillar spotlights. Granted, they look somewhat like rental cars, but that's a far cry from anything which would suggest that Ponch and Jon are riding inside.

Just as significant, perhaps, is the fact that the CHP has started to diversify.  Crown Vics have been the backbone of the CHP's marked fleet, and today the agency operates more than 2,100 of the venerable Fords.  Meanwhile, troopers in many other states have already traded in their Crown Vics for new Chargers, and as one astute analyst recently noted, the Dodge cop cars look pretty badass.

Here's a slicktop Charger in service with the Massachusetts State Police:

Photo by christopdesoto

And here's one (with the telltale steel wheels) used by the Michigan State Police:

Photo by squeez91270

Chargers have also been embraced by the NYPD and the LAPD.

Will black-and-white CHP Chargers come to California's highways as well?  Frankly, we hope so, if only because it's vastly easier to see a marked Charger than it is to try and spot its low-profile alternative. In the meantime, California motorists... let's be careful out there.

LINKS:
Dodge Charger Police (Official Dodge fleet sales website, with multimedia)

California Highway Patrol Adds Charger as Undercover & Training Vehicles (Government Fleet, May 16, 2007)

Dodge Charger Police Cars (Flickr photo group)

PREVIOUSLY:
What Kind of Man Drives an Ex-Police Car?

Comments

[Jim]

Is there a law or a policy that says that CHP vehicles that are (primarily?) used to issue traffic tickets have to be marked?

I'm not sure, but I thought i heard some news report about a ticketee in marin getting off because the police used an unmarked car.

[Ryan Coleman]

We've had unmarked chargers up here in Ontario (Halton regional police) for a little bit. And

I'll vouch for the fact that they are terrifyingly hard to spot.

[ssk]

I got to see a brand new black and white California HP HEMI Charger pull over a 911 Turbo for going 120 mph yesterday. the cool things about the unmarked cars is that they aren't crown vics which SCREAM Cops!

[Rafe]

The Truth About Cars did a hands-on review of the police-spec Chargers in September:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/reviews/dodge-charger-cop-spec-review/

[mo]

maybe its cause they get better than 12 MPG's???

the bast I saw was a pimped out Escalade had some pocket rocket stopped on the hiway here in MN. must of been a seized car.

[Lamesauce]

THOSE Chargers are not for vechicle enforecement. They are the admin cars (Capt) and UNDERCOVER cars used for auto theft. The CHP however is aquiring additional Chargers which will meet Vehicle code requirements for vehicle code enforcement.

Just because you have pics of the parking lot in Sac, you need to notice that is the side where they park the UNFINISHED cars. Note the crown vics do not have spots, lightbars, or decals yet. ASSuME.

[code20photog]

CA State Law states that only fully marked police vehicles can be used for traffic enforcement. An officer in an unmarked car cannot issue a moving violation. I don't have the CVC statue in front of me, but as I recall, to be used in traffic enforcement in CA, a police vehicle must have at least the front doors painted white with identifying agency logos, or if the front doors are not painted white, the fleet of police vehicles from that department must all be similarly marked (Former Visalia blue cars, Tulare, are two that come to mind)

[John Smith]

The CHP does not use unmarked cars for enforcement. These unmarked cars go to the management of the CHP. Have you ever seen a CHP patrol car that was not black and white, or white? They always have markings. Even the pickup trucks are marked. Whoever wrote this article jumped the gun! You wont see enforcement Chargers out there that are not marked. They may be slick tops, but are marked for enforcement.

[bp]

If you're not doing anything wrong,then you should'nt have to worry whether they are marked or not.

[Guy Fawkes]

I want to share a story about my encounter with the dark force of the CHP. Last Sunday night/Monday morning around 12:30 a.m. I was on motorcycle heading home when out of nowhere I passed by an all blacked out Charger like I was standing still, and I was doing about 75mph. So like any hoodlum worth his nicks and scraps I went in pursuit. I caught and passed the Charger at about a buck 135 and then the lights came on. It was a cop?! As I made my way to the left side of the highway I became pissed not only for getting caught but because I felt that he was breaking the law way before I was. Two cops get out, both wearing different uniforms that I didn't recognize as either CHP or local sherif's dept. The driver proceeded to tell me how fast I was going and I replied with the question, "That's how fast YOU were going?". I told him I didn't know they were using Charges and I thought that when a cop was running at those speeds they had to have their lights on. He told me they didn't. I replied that I thought it wasn't safe to run an all black car at over 120 mph in the dark. He asked me for my license and then told me to slow it down. They got back in the car and proceeded to BLASTED down the freeway. I kept it at a respectable 75.

Was I breaking the law? Damn right I was. But how can the law only go one way and still be the law. So Kiddies, watch out for these stealthy bastards and always question authority. You never know, you might get away with it.

V

[BecauseICan]

BP,

Law enforcement officers are allowed to speed at all times . . . You are not a law enforcement officer; therefore, you are not allowed to speed. When some sicko has your wife and children terrified and they call 911, I would hope that you would understand that the police will speed, I would hope that you would want them to speed to 200mph to save your family. To you, speed is enjoyment; to them, it is a requirment in order to stop or prevent crime from occurring.

[California Driver]

WRONG!!! " Law enforcement officers are allowed to speed at all times..." .

This issue has been raised on numerous occasions and all courts have always ruled that Police ARE required to follow the law, just as any other driver.

When a GENUINE emergency actually requires an "Emergency Vehicle" (be it ambulance, fire-engine, etc., as defined in the Motor Vehicle Code) to travel quickly - insofar as safety allows - to respond to a genuine emergency, THEN speeding is "allowed".Cops have never been granted legal license to speed at will, for any reason whatsoever.Even in cases where Police are notorious for violating the law for no reason, you can be sure that no presiding Judge will ever issue a blank check to the Police by ruling otherwise.Some (not all) Police simply break the law because they have found that they generally get away with it; this is NOT sanctioned behavior!

[john medina]

the CHP does use unmarked cars...They're primarily used for truck commercial enforcement since truckers sit high and have the CB radio to help ID the bears..the CHP has all white patrol cars known as polar bears and I've seen all white camaro's with low profile light bars on the roof. They're very difficult to spot until you see the hidden red light on his rear view mirror. I think they should have unmarked cars or at least stealth like to confuse the crazy drivers in california

[Todd]

I was travelling on the Northbound 210 freeway yesterday. I kept seeing an older brown colored Crown Vic with regular plates (not Gov't) pass me and then hang back. The car had a single red light on the dash board in the windshield. The driver was a CHP officer in the blue uniform. He ended up pulling someone over around the area of Hansen Dam. The CV did not have any yellow, blue, red lights in the rear. It just seemed really weird to me because I have never seen that car setup before.

[manny]

Very nice cars. I am not an expert at cars but I hope one day to buy my dream car and enjoy it for a ride in BC mountains.

THanks for sharing, it has inspired me today :)

Manny

[Clay]

Saw one today in Anaheim. You definitely know it is CHP "ONLY" after it lights up its armada of red and blue flashers...

[Richard Rincon]

Yes, it has inspired me as well!
It is oh so sweet!

R. Rincon
California Vacations

[GORDO]

I GOT A CHARGER AND LOVE IT BUT WHEN I SEEN THE FULL BLOWN CHP VERSION I DONT THINK MINE STOOD A CHANCE AGAINST IT. WONDER WHAT THEY GOT UNDER THE HOOD, NO ITS NOT STOCK.