oad. This minor setback, together with the need to make police cars better than their foes, led to the creation of what is now known as a police package. By definition, a police package is the car itself, customized to become a police car and featuring performance, stance and visual enhancements. One of the first packages to be offered was created by Ford, but only after the end of the second World War. The American manufacturer found there were several, repetitive items asked for by police departments when it came to cars. To make their job easier, Ford selected those features and combined them with several other parts and components, which were then sold to police departments as police packages. Of course, everyone picked up the idea and soon US streets were filled with identifiable police cars. Underneath the fancy painting and lights, however, the packages hid serious improvements to both performance and resistance. Police cars became much more tough and resilient than their regular, street versions. Police packages also began solving another problem officers had to face. Not being purposely built for police use, cars did not have any means of separating the officers from the prisoners they transported. To make matters worse, until police packages arrived, policemen have reportedly been driving alongside the suspects sitting right beside them on the front seats. Police cars began using a larger scale of sirens and lights. The sirens were, in general, a rotating disk powered by an electric motor, while the lights were limited to a red flasher or a Fed- ... the 60s & 70s Chrysler Enforcer In the 1960s, the Chrysler Enforcer was a Newport 4-Door Sedan with a Chrysler Police Pack that included power steering and drum brakes. It offered the cop that had to keep up a 5.9-liter V8 engine pushing power through the rear wheels using a push-button transmission. That huge lump of an engine made 265 horsepower and topped out at 130 mph. Dodge Monaco By 1970, 85% of American police cars were made by Chrysler. Chrysler's 7.2 liter Magnum V8 was a tough act to beat right up until the fuel crisis of the 1970s that put an end to gas-guzzling engines. The Monaco was the last of its kind from Dodge as it started downsizing as demand for big engines dropped. The Monaco police car did, however, get the perfect swan song by being the hero car in the movie The Blues Brothers. It was perfect for the redemption story of two criminals on a mission from God as: "It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters, so it runs good on regular gas." 46 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 47 ... chrysler’s rein
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