The Crown Victoria cruisers are soon headed for extinction.

WESTBROOK – The Ford Crown Victoria, a reliable staple of police fleets for many years, is going the way of the dodo.

Come August, Ford will begin production on a new Police Interceptor based on its Taurus model. Ford will retire the Crown Victoria, a cruiser authorities said has controlled between 75 and 80 percent of the police market since the 1990s.

That means that in the next year, police departments throughout the country will be evaluating their fleets and determining how to replace a cruiser that has become synonymous with patrol work. Representatives with multiple agencies referred to the vehicle as a “workhorse.”

In Westbrook, police are looking into purchasing cruisers for the upcoming fiscal year early since orders for Crown Victorias must be in by March, said police Capt. Tom Roth. It makes sense to avoid the new cars as long as possible, since once departments switch over to a new cruiser they likely will have to buy new equipment. That could mean significant cost for radios, mounting consoles, cage partitions, hard plastic seats and window bars, he said.

“I’ll certainly miss the (Crown Victoria). All our gear fits it,” Roth said. “There will be a large cost that first year we budget new cars.”

Westbrook’s fleet consists of 12 Crown Victorias. Shawn Adams, the city’s public safety technician for police, fire and EMS, said the full-framed vehicle is known in police circles as durable and dependable.

However, Ford is discontinuing the Crown Victoria because it cannot take on modern-day safety features such as side curtain air bags, he said.

“I think there’s a lot of unknowns,” Adams said, explaining it may be difficult for departments to pick among the Ford, Chevrolet or Dodge models typically advertised as police vehicles.

“It’s a whole new era. It will make or break a fleet manager. When they make a change now, it could be real good or real bad,” Adams said.

Adams is responsible for recommending which cruiser the department should buy, and he said he is leaning toward the Ford Interceptor.

“I need to provide these guys with a safe, reliable platform so they can do their job,” he said.

According to Adams, the new Ford comes equipped with rear vision cameras, collision alerts, blind spot avoidance, roll stability control and other features that are becoming standard in civilian vehicles.

One downside, according to Maine State Police fleet manager Dave Blake, is that Ford will only offer front- or all-wheel-drive cruisers going forward. There most likely will be training associated with the switch since the Crown Victoria is a rear-wheel-drive car, he said.

The Crown Victoria’s full frame made it the safest vehicle around for police, he added.

“I can show you pictures of a Crown Victoria (after a crash) and how a police officer ever walked away is beyond me. It’s because of the full frame,” he said.

Blake said each model has its pros and cons: The Crown Victoria has very strong brakes, while a car like the Chevrolet Caprice has traditionally had weak ones, he said.

With 505 vehicles in the Department of Public Safety – 270 of them Crown Victorias – state police must think carefully before making a purchase, he said.

“We’re still thinking about it,” Blake said. “We’ll probably look at everything.”

One benefit of buying Crown Victorias for one more year, Adams said, is that the department will be able to see how the new Interceptors perform for other departments.

Whenever the department makes the switch, Adams said, it is sure to be a shock for some.

“For a lot of people it’s going to be a huge change because it’s the only car they’ve ever known,” he said. “It’s done the job very well and it’s been an excellent car for police work. It’s going to be missed by a lot of departments.”

The fleet at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is also made up of Crown Victorias. The sheriff’s office runs between 38 and 40 cruisers, and the department purchases around 10 each year, said Capt. Jeff Davis, patrol division commander.

That department is also investigating the issue, but like elsewhere, Davis said, “At this time we don’t have a lot of answers.”

For the county, the decision will come down to price, he said. Once the county budget is approved, the sheriff’s office will start up a bidding process, he said.

But Davis, like many officers, will miss the Crown Victoria. A 30-year law enforcement veteran, he said he has driven cruisers as varied as the Dodge Charger and even a Pontiac LeMans.

“When those Crown Vics came out, we stuck to them,” he said. “It’s just been a very good vehicle and I think that’s why you’re seeing upward of 75 percent of police officers across the country are in them.”

Others, though, are not as nostalgic. Westbrook police Chief Bill Baker, a 36-year veteran, recalls the days of Chevy Novas – which had back seats so small they could not carry large prisoners – and Dodge Diplomats.

“These police car changes come and go,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”

Owner Tom Flaherty of Tom & Jerry’s Car Wash helps ensure that Officer Andy York’s Crown Victoria cleanly represents the city of Westbrook. With Ford about to discontinue the model, the city now must determine how to replace a cruiser that has become synonymous with patrol work.Photo by Rich Obrey