- California police will receive 100 Dodge Durangos designed to blend in with traffic.
- These stealthy patrol cars will focus on targeting “video game-styled” highway driving.
- Missouri state police are also adding stealthy Durangos SUVs to their own patrol fleet.
The California Highway Patrol is stepping up efforts to catch speeding and reckless drivers, and their latest patrol vehicles are all about stealth. Known as specially marked patrol vehicles (SMPVs), these new additions to the fleet feature subdued graphics and hidden emergency lights, allowing them to blend seamlessly into traffic. Locals will need to be on their best behavior, as they could be tailed by one of these stealthy patrol cars without even realizing it.
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In total, 100 new Dodge Durango SMPVs will be introduced across California, each powered by a potent Hemi V8 engine. Unlike the familiar black-and-white paint scheme of other CHP vehicles, these Durangos retain their original manufacturer paint jobs and can only be identified by subtle graphics on the front doors.
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Local authorities say they are targeting “video game-styled” highway driving with the SMPVs, including speeding, tailgating, and weaving through traffic. The stealthy Durangos have been designed to blend into traffic so officers can observe dangerous and reckless driving. Common colors used across the new fleet include silver, grey, and a dark shade of purple. All 100 will be deployed by June.
Each specially-equipped Durango features red and blue flashing lights behind the front grille, behind the top of the windshield, below the rocker panels, and in the rear window. This isn’t the first time the California Highway Patrol has deployed vehicles like this. In 1990, it introduced a fleet of SMPVs for commercial truck enforcement across local freeways.
The CHP says it receives nearly 1,000 reports daily of reckless driving, noting that speed plays a factor in roughly 30% of all crashes and is a “major contributor to traffic fatalities and injuries.”
It’s not just drivers in California that had better be on the lookout for these new patrol vehicles. The Missouri State Highway Patrol is also adding similarly stealthy Dodge Durangos to its fleet. These vehicles go a step further than those in California, sporting ‘ghost’ graphics that are almost invisible during the day but are reflective at night.
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