Free Republic

The suspect who torched 11 NYPD cop cars in Brooklyn—causing $800,000+ in damage—has been identified as Jakhi Lodgson-McCray, an anti-Israel agitator with multiple protest-related arrests. A $30,000 reward is being offered on the whereabouts of the anti-Israel menace accused of torching nearly a dozen NYPD cars and causing $800,000 in damages in Brooklyn earlier in the month. Jakhi Lodgson-McCray, 21, who has been arrested a number of times at protests, allegedly set fire to 11 cop cars in a Bushwick parking lot on June 12 — and has not been seen since, cops said. Numerous law enforcement agencies —...

California police aren’t loving their Tesla cop cars Elon Musk on Thursday night rolled out the latest tech from Tesla, saying of its sleek Cybercab robotaxis and a prototype of its new electric van that “the future should look like the future.” Back in the present day, however, California police departments are beginning to regret the decision to replace their fleets with Tesla Y models. Though climate friendly — preparing the departments for a zero-emissions future — turns out the Teslas pose a lot of other challenges, per SFGate interviews with three Northern California police chiefs. Once modified, for example,...

Ford Motor Company Employees have asked the company’s leadership to stop making and selling police vehicles. According to Verge, the internal discussion came as the demands for racial justice raged across the country. In response, Ford CEO Jim Hackett has told employees in a letter that he doesn’t think it’s “controversial that the Ford Police Interceptor helps officers do their job” and that Ford will continue the business. Ford has the market when it comes to making police cars, accounting for two-thirds of the cop cars on the street. Despite Ford’s success in the police car market, employees, including black...

A Southern California police department is drawing both praise and ire for the new star-spangled logo on the sides of its patrol vehicles, according to reports. The Laguna Beach Police Department in Orange County recently added American-flag-style lettering for the word "police" on the sides of the vehicles, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Car enthusiasts occasionally pride themselves on being able to pick out police cars from far away. I don't condone speeding, but if you ignore my wishes, it's a good idea to at least be smart about it. That's about to get a whole lot harder with Ford's new low-profile LED light bar. Even sneakier than the roof-mounted light bar is the visor-mounted light bar, which attaches up near the sun visors inside the cabin, basically disappearing behind the windshield. Ford's new low-profile light bar is fully integrated outside of the driver's field of vision, for both reduced obstruction and a...

That icon of police transportation, a vehicle so sturdy and beloved and ubiquitous that it became virtual wallpaper on TV cop shows and local streets – the Ford Crown Victoria – is dead. The upshot is this: For many police agencies, it’s time to buy a new car. Ford stopped making the Crown Vic four years ago, saying sales to the public had fallen to the point that the car is no longer viable, even if demand from police agencies remained strong. Fuel efficiency (or in the Crown Vic’s case, inefficiency) played a role.