EcoBoost Police vehicles update

spoon059 wrote:

IndyCamp wrote:

This has nothing to do with the thread, but I hate seeing police cars idle when it isn't necessary. At least, it doesn't seem necessary to me, the dumb civilian.

When it is 20 degrees and they have to make a traffic stop, I get it.

When they are on parade duty on July 4th and are standing outside their car, manning a sawhorse roadblock, why does the car need to be running for two hours?

We have take-home cars in my city and I see lots of off-duty cops go into the the gas station and leave their cruiser idling in the parking lot. Why?

Sorry OP, I feel the need to provide an answer for public relations reasons. There are often valid reasons to leave the car running that the average person might not consider. I'd rather educate than have taxpayers pissed off unnecessarily.

IndyCamp, there is a TON of gear in modern police cars that is very taxing on the engine. When I still worked a beat I had a Mobile Data Computer (laptop) Mobile Video System (in car camera), radio, spare portable radio battery charger, GPS (not like Garmin, a GPS tracker in my car) flashlight charger and other equipment that is always drawing power. During my shift I usually kept my car running because the constant power draw of all that crap, plus the additional amperage to start the car would kill my battery if I did it throughout the shift. You never know if the call will take 2 minutes or 2 hours. If a call drags on and I have the ability to go turn my car and a lot of the electronics off, I will... sometimes you don't have the chance to come out and turn off the car.

On a parade detail, directing traffic or a traffic stop or something you probably have your overhead lights on. A lot of departments are going to modern LED lighting, but I had an old strobe bar, flashing headlights and taillights, etc in my car. If I left that lightbar on for 10 minutes with the car off, my battery would die.

Off duty and running personal errands... no excuse to keep the car running. Police departments hire humans... humans make mistakes and the occasional poor decision. If it bothers you enough, write down the tag number and make a phone call to your local department and let the supervisor know.

Back on topic... =)

You have that right about the electrical loads on vehicle requiring the operator to keep it running. Even when off, many cars have trunking radios that extend the reach of the officer's handheld.

BTW: I like LEO's and like bacon, but I don't use the terms interchangeably.