Pimp my (police) ride!

An article on August 08 2008 in one of Mail & Guardian’s competitors’ car magazines open with the line “Porsches, Dodge Vipers, Ford Mustangs, Chevrolet Corvettes, Lamborghinis”, which is what the Metro Police in Cape Town are asking for.

According to the article, Heathcliff Thomas, the head of Cape Town’s traffic department, showed one photo after the other of other country’s flashy patrol cars at the monthly meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security on Thursday, August 07 2008.

“We have to have world standards,” said Thomas.

In Italy and the UK law enforcement officials use Lamborghini Gallardos, while Hummers patrol the streets in China and the US.

Other hot wheels that are a favourite among US traffic officials are Dodge Vipers, Ford Mustangs and Corvettes.

Some of these cars have a 0-100km/h acceleration time of below five seconds, while it takes Cape Town patrol cars 13.5 seconds.

“We want to find a way to acquire vehicles in this category,” Thomas said. He also mentioned to the committee that the fastest vehicles the department has are some Honda motorbikes, and they are still waiting for delivery of three Golf GTIs.

Metro Police Chief Bongani Jonas also cited the following municipal police departments in other countries with the following vehicles: he told the council’s Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security that while Germany’s traffic officers drove the world’s fastest legal sedan — the Mercedes Brabus CLS Rocket with a top speed of 360 km per hour — Cape Town’s traffic officers had to make do with ordinary Japanese-made sedans.

Several European cities had Porsche 911 Carreras in their fleet, capable of going from 0 km per hour to 100 km per hour in four seconds. The city’s officers managed a comparative 13,5 seconds in their “fastest cars”.

According to Bongani Jonas, CT Metro Police Chief, they investigated the following incidents: Italy and Britain used the Lamborghini Gallardos; V8 Dodges and Chevrolets, Corvettes and Mustangs were the vehicles of choice in the US; Canadian traffic cops drove S-type Jaguars and Japan preferred the Nissan Skyline GTI R.

The Portfolio Committee’s chairperson JP Smith of the DA pointed out that these kinds of super cars could motivate traffic officials. Smith said it is not necessary to always buy at the lowest end of the scale.

Now, I can agree that the Metro Police need better vehicles than what they have. In their fleet they have old vehicles like the Mazda 323 and 626, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Camry and Corolla, etc, all old vehicles. The newest addition to the line-up is the Nissan Tiida.

Another newspaper cited the city of Joburg with their new Ford Focus vehicles, painted bright orange, blue and white. It said that everyone in Joburg knows the JMPD vehicles, as they are “flashy, brightly painted and best of all, new”.

My problem is that the municipal police in South Africa do not have a general crime fighting mandate. In Joburg and Ekhuruleni, the municipal police generally assist the SAPS with crime prevention and crime fighting. Here in the Mother City, however, the “pizza boys”, as our metro police are “affectionately” known, have an antagonistic attitude towards the SAPS. They do not want to co-operate with the SAPS, and assumes roles above their legislative mandate. For instance, they have the right to stop your car to look for structural defects with regard to the road worthiness of your vehicle, as this is stipulated in municipal by-laws. However, they do not have the right to search your car for anything. For that, they need the assistance of the SAPS. But they want to fight with people about every little thing — even if it is above their station!

So, what does CT MPD want with cars that go so fast? It’s not like they would be chasing cash-in-transit thieves, nor carrying out a hot pursuit of bank robbers.

Instead, if they want “hot wheels”, they must first justify what they would be used for. Or do the local chiefs just want to brag with Porsche 911 Carrera GTs in their driveways?

I, for one, would really balk at seeing them blocking the N2 with all those expensive vehicles! Just Hummers, Corvettes, Lamborghinis and Brabuses driving at a snail’s pace on the N2, holding up early morning peak!