- Elizabeth Larson
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CHP's Clear Lake Area office gets first new patrol utility vehicles
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area’s office is getting some new wheels.
The CHP has been gradually transitioning patrol cars at its offices across the state to SUVS – or PUVs, which stands for “patrol utility vehicles,” according to CHP Officer Joe Wind.
The new specially outfitted PUVs are produced by Ford Motor Co.
Based on its Explorer SUV, Ford has named the patrol vehicle version the Police Interceptor Utility.
It can seat up to five people and has a 365-horsepower engine, according to a Ford fact sheet.
Wind said the Clear Lake Area office got its first PUV in mid-December and its second one the first week of January.
The vehicles are being subbed in as the older Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars come to the end of their service life. Wind said the office has a fleet of 12 vehicles.
Officer Kory Reynolds said the all-wheel drive vehicles have great stability and a V6 engine, and actually are faster than the Crown Victorias.
He said they come equipped with new radio systems and mobile audio video recording systems, which means all vehicle stops are recorded.
They're also more comfortable and sit up higher, which he says should save wear and tear on the officers themselves.
“This is the new look, and you'll see a lot of them out,” he said.
The reason for the vehicle transition, according to Clear Lake Area office Commander Lt. Hector Paredes, is a matter of equipment and weight.
With the amount of equipment a typical CHP officer now has – in addition to computers, weapons and other items – the current patrol vehicles are nearing weight capacity, he said.
“We’re just carrying around more gear,” he said.
Paredes said other law enforcement agencies are moving to SUVs for similar weight and capacity reasons.
He’s tested out the new PUVs at a training and said they’re lowered and extremely stable, and are hard to roll, even when turning hard at 35 miles per hour. A computer in the vehicle senses such hard turns and engages the wheels a certain way to keep the PUV from rolling.
“They're a great vehicle,” Paredes said.
The Clear Lake Area office's two PUVs puts it just behind the much larger Santa Rosa Area office, where Capt. Greg Baarts – Paredes' predecessor as commander in Lake County – now works.
Baarts told Lake County News that Santa Rosa has gotten three PUVs and is due to get two more as they swap out the cars in their 27-vehicle fleet.
Like Paredes, Baarts took a training in the PUVs, and even when jerking the wheel at moderate speed, he said it didn't flip. “The thing drives by itself.”
Over the years, the CHP has had a variety of patrol vehicles, including muscle cars like the Ford Mustang – which the agency used in the 1980s and 1990s – and the Chevy Camaro, as well as the 350-horsepower Chevy Impala and, most recently, the Dodge Charger.
Before Paredes' arrival, the Clear Lake Area office had one of the Dodge Chargers. He said the trouble with using them as patrol vehicles was, again, a weight issue, besides the very small trunk.
As to which of the CHP’s cars over the years was fastest, Paredes said it was between the Mustang and the Impala.
“The Impala got up and went,” said Paredes. “That was the idea. The Impala was supposed to replace the Mustang as a chase vehicle.”
However, Paredes said the Mustang was the most fun.
“It was a stick,” and topped out at 140 miles per hour, he said.
In the video above, CHP Officer Kory Reynolds takes one of the new PUVs out for a drive.
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