FLIR, License Plate Recognition, and Small Block, Oh My!

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

AOL’s Translogic [via PopSci] takes a look at the LAPD’s brand-spankety new Chevy Caprice PPV, the born-again Pontiac G8 that you can’t buy at a dealership. But rather than looking at the Caprice’s cop car-creaming performance (as did the Michigan State Police), this report focuses on the LAPD’s high-tech toys… which could just make the Caprice’s V8, rear-drive abilities less necessary than ever. Still, between the Holden-powered, rear-drive performance, the footprint-spying night vision camera and the automatic license plate recognition system, the Caprice PPV will probably make you think twice about speeding the next time you’re visiting the City of Angels.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Panzerfaust Panzerfaust on May 31, 2011

    Well... I don't know if LAPD is going to catch more 'bad guys' with this car, but they'll probably be able to type 120 words a minute by the end of the year. That suspect compartment, or whatever they call it doesn't look like it's big enough for a Compton Crip. I can see one of the Priu Street boys busting up all that plastic-balistic or not. I've always wondered why most patrol cars don't have a HUD as standard equipment, which would then super-impose infra-red imaging on part of the windshield; to me this would be a good safety item-especially in areas prone to fog. Seems to me they had such a system on Cadillacs a few years ago. The FlIR will probably pay for itself in apprensions.

  • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on May 31, 2011

    Wonder if any departments who still trade cars a silly low mileages will be using these? (IIRC San Antonio used to ditch their cop cars at the 60,000 mile mark, but that was back in the 1990s. It made for some clean cop cars for sale.)

  • Steven02 Steven02 on May 31, 2011

    The license plate reading is pretty cool.

  • Yuppie Yuppie on Jun 01, 2011

    Why are the front wheels so much larger than the rear ones? Heh heh.

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