Police Vehicles

A large number of Police Officers in Honolulu prefer the 4Runner as their personal/subsidized patrol vehicle. You might call it the "Official Vehicle of HPD".

 

Not for chasing anyone though. They're too slow.

 

It's an island, where they gonna go?

 

Wonder how the frames hold up on those vehicle with salt air? Not sure if it’s an issue but I would be curious.

 

No but the radios work.

 

My thoughts exactly

 

The Runner probably slows radio waves down too.

 

Just occurred to me that the 4Runner were designed slow to consume less gas and meet EPA standards.
By default.

I remember test driving the new 2011 4Runner back then. It was so slow that i walked away from a sweet deal of $28K loaded. I went for 2012 Honda Pilot instead.

 

When I first started in law enforcement the city I worked for would buy used patrol vehicles from our state police. They couldn’t afford new. Once a state car hit 100k they would sell it and small departments like mine would buy it. We used the same radio, siren and light bar and just moved them from car to car until they didn’t work anymore. The equipment lasted a lot longer than the cars, or the officers for that matter. I recall driving cars with a hole in the driver floorboard from having been spit in and rusted through. This is Texas and smokeless tobacco rules. We just covered it up with a piece of sheet metal or the plastic floor matt. As Snickel Fritz said, we had a shop and a couple of mechanics that kept them going. We also had a tow truck to come get them when they broke down, which they frequently did. In todays world, at least in Texas, they still drive the wheels off them but it doesn’t take long. And the equipment they use now is just staggering. We were lucky to have a radar unit in my early days. By the time I retired we had onboard computer equipment and cameras. As for driving fast, it’s just not necessary in urban environments anymore. The camera tracking systems in place now make it next to impossible for a vehicle to get away. They’re all connected to an app on every officer’s cell phone and when a particular vehicle is sought and entered in that system it’s just a matter of minutes until they close in. I had lunch the other day with a couple of my former coworkers who are still in it and their phones were blowing up. Getting to an emergency call asap really doesn’t require excessive speed or even great handling. Just careful driving and common sense. Our beloved 4Runner wouldn’t work everywhere but it sure would work in a lot of places, and would probably significantly cut back on repair costs. Maintenance is maintenance.

 

Police Officers use 4Runners because they are practical, very capable and most of all reliable. As far as rust issues, like any thing else, it all depends on the quality of the vehicle and if the owner took care of it.