Law enforcement agencies across the country have been evaluating their fleets in light of a possible defect. One of the most widely-used patrol vehicles is under scrutiny. But as Maya Springhawk Robnett of the Arizona Science Desk reports, some local police departments aren’t that concerned…
Carbon monoxide poisoning hospitalized dozens of police officers across the country in the past few months. The Austin, Texas Police Department alleges the Ford Interceptor—which is a version of the Explorer adapted for law enforcement use—is the culprit. The APD recently pulled all 397 of its Ford Interceptors.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas. Dr. Joseph Hogue is a family physician at Yuma Regional Medical Center. He said the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning is that it prevents oxygen from attaching to red blood cells.
“If the carbon monoxide is held on to the red blood cells, you don’t have oxygen going to everywhere else in your body like your kidney, your heart,” Hogue explained. “Cells, you know, they can end up dying.”
In Yuma, AZ, where Ford Interceptors make up the majority of the Police Department fleet, Lieutenant Clinton Norred said the department checked each vehicle. There had been several reports by YPD officers of an exhaust smell in the Interceptors.
“We took it and borrowed a carbon monoxide meter or monitor from the Yuma Fire Department to specifically test each one of our cars to make sure we weren’t having any kind of issues,” Norred said.
Still, YPD did install constant monitors into all of the Interceptors that carry canine officers.
While it’s not the only vehicle used for patrols in police departments across the country, the Ford Interceptor is a good fit for Yuma’s varied environment, according to Norred. “Listen, we’re not going to go to the sand dunes in these,” he said,” but in our region we do have the bombing range and we do have some very undeveloped desert, so there is some tough terrain out there.”
Norred said it’s a good thing they didn’t find any issues with the department’s Interceptors, because the old war horse of police patrol vehicles is being retired. In the YPD parking garage, Norred opened the car door to a blue and white Ford Crown Victoria. The four-door cruiser is about twelve years old and now serves as the school resource vehicle.
“A Crown Vic was sufficient,” Norred said of the older vehicle. “We had a radio, we had a siren. But once we started moving to computers and you were really limited with a Crown Vic to under the seat, behind the partition, which cramped the seat position or put it in the trunk—which, it’s 109 [degrees] today. Computer equipment in a trunk generally does not react well to heat.”
Crown Victorias also had their own mechanical issues. In use for decades, dozens of officers were killed when their cruisers caught fire after being struck from behind. The cars were later modified for safety.
They were once the go-to car for patrol vehicles. Now they’re being phased out.
Sergeant Lori Franklin said the Interceptors were needed desperately: “The economy was bad for a while and budgets were cut big-time. So we did not get new vehicles for several years.”
YPD Officer Daniel Casanova says the department’s Crown Vics were in constant use and had a lot of wear and tear. Some officers even brought their own seat cushions from home.
“One person would use it for their shift. The next would come right in and use the vehicle. So the driver’s seat, the cushion would be just…,” Casanova shook his head, “You could see the metal.”
Still, he said the old Crown Vics are special. “I miss that. That’s one of those things that, unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to get back. That’s so iconic, I guess,” Casanova reminisced. “I remember growing up and everyone knows a police car, or a Crown Vic. And now, we’re using SUVs.”
Ford offered to repair any faulty SUVs, but has said any defects are the result of changes made to the vehicles during installation of police equipment. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating complaints from civilian Explorer owners.
In 2016, 48 percent of law enforcement vehicles were Ford Interceptors.
