Oct 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 10

palette was more diverse

palette was more diverse than that, the color of choice for both police officers and criminals alike remained black. Few, if any markings let others know a car is being used by the police. In the early days, police cars were given just an insignia, stating the car’s purpose on the road. This minor setback, together with the need to make police cars better than their foes’, led to the creation of what is now known as the police package. By definition, a police package is the car itself, customized to become a police car and featuring performance, stance and visual enhancements. One of the first packages to be offered was created by Ford, but only after the end of the second World War. The American manufacturer found there were several repetitive items requested by police departments when it came to police cars. To make their job easier, Ford selected those features and combined them with several other parts and components, which were then sold to police departments as Police Packages. Of course, everyone picked up the idea and soon US streets were filled with identifiable police cars. Underneath the fancy painting and lights however, the packages hid serious improvements to both performance and resistance. Police cars became much tougher and resilient than their street versions. Police packages also began solving another problem officers had to face. Not being built for police use, cars did not have any means of separating the officers from the prisoners they transported. To make matters worse, until police packages arrived, policemen have reportedly been driving alongside the suspects sitting right beside them on the front seat. Police cars also began using sirens and lights. The sirens consisted of a rotating disk powered by an electric motor, while the lights were limited to a red flasher or a Federal Beacon Ray. By the 1960s, the single rotating light began being replaced with Federal bar mounted dual lights. Towards the end of the decade, manufactures created the enclosed light bars which are still used today, albeit with LED lights operated by a digital control system. Larger police departments started separating themselves from the public by requesting their cars be painted in two contrasting colors, on the doors and the front & rear fenders. Plymouth, a favorite choice of police departments, took police packages even further and came up with an advertising campaign to promote their products. They even began building several packages, to suit the needs of different law enforcement agencies. Chrysler replied with the release of the Dodge Coronet police package in 1956, followed by the Dodge Dart Pursuit in 1959. American police’s taste in terms of cars thus began taking shape. Even since the 1932 Ford V-8, the appeal of law-defenders for muscle cars grew. By the 1970s, just about the entire fleet of police cars was a force to be reckoned with spearheaded by 300+ hp engines. 92 The BLUES

CHRYSLER ENFORCER In the 1960s, the Chrysler Enforcer was a Newport 4-Door Sedan with a Chrysler Police Pack that included power steering and drum brakes. It offered the cop that had to keep up a 5.9-liter V8 engine pushing power through the rear wheels using a push-button transmission. That huge lump of an engine made 265 horsepower and topped out at 130 mph. 1960 FORD FAIRLANE The Ford Fairlane was widely used for fleets in the 1950s and 1960s. Powered by a V8 and starting at a pocket-friendly price, the big, comfortable cruiser was used by several police departments, including the Illinois State Police and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department. A 1960 Ford Fairlane Fordor Sedan appeared as a squad car used by the fictional Mayberry Police Department in the 1960s American sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show. The BLUES 93