SmartForFiveOh: Small Florida town employs Smart police cruiser
Belle Isle Police Chief John Tegg with his new Smart ForTwo Police Cruiser
When your Police Chief is six-feet tall and weighs 280 pounds, you might consider it cruel and unusual punishment to issue him a Smart fortwo as his police cruiser. But that is exactly what the folks in Belle Isle, Florida have done. Heck, if it's good enough for Batman, it's good enough for Belle Isle, right? According to the Orlando Sentinel, Chief John Tegg insists that he's perfectly comfortable once he gets situated inside – at least physically. "One fella told me he's not sure he'd pull over for this little thing," Tegg said. "I said you'd better if you know what's good for you."
The fledgling police department in this small Orange County town claims that this is the first Smart pressed into constabulary duty in America. While we can't verify that claim, the Belle Isle force plans on using the vehicle for patrols. However, with no backseat, Tegg admits there is room for little more than a ticket book, so the good chief will have to call for backup if someone needs to be hauled off to jail. Showing that they at least have a healthy sense of humor about the situation, the squad has issued the car a unit number of "point-five" – as in half a car. We're calling it Smart ForFiveOh, or Smart ForPoPo. Anything else come to mind? We're sure you can come up with something better. Thanks for the tip and pics, David!
Gallery: Smart Police Cruiser
[Source: Orlando Sentinel / Photos: phabulousphotos]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Tim 1:31PM (4/22/2009)
The only thing this will be able to chase is a prius. Or a baby stroller.
Reply
Jared 2:01PM (4/22/2009)
The Smart ForThose.... who decide to run from it.
It's probably an inside joke behind the Chief's back to get him to loose weight.
Steve 2:03PM (4/22/2009)
It could chase a kid on a bicycle... down a hill.
JB 1:41PM (4/22/2009)
You can't outrun the radio
Reply
nagmashot 1:51PM (4/22/2009)
+1 and how many times in average the police in the USA send a driver to jail after they pulled him over? Land of criminals were every day a average policemen send tow or three people to jail?
jv2k 5:11PM (4/22/2009)
The radio isn't going to help the police go above highway speeds in their new smartfleet.
PJ 6:01PM (4/22/2009)
"You can't outrun the radio."
Bingo. Besides the fact that, if an officer's hauling someone off to jail, there's already going to be one or two backup cars on the scene anyway.
The posters here have been watching too much TV if they think that most of an officer's day consists of high-speed vehicle chases... more often than not, you're driving from one place to another to talk to people.
John 1:41PM (4/22/2009)
So does he still get to make fun of bike cops, or do they make fun of him?
Reply
RJ 1:52AM (4/23/2009)
Well, he'd get to make fun of bike cops till they line up at a light to race...
Jake 1:45PM (4/22/2009)
They need to give one of these to that Billings, Montana police chief that there was a story about on here yesterday and make him drive it around.
Reply
Luce 1:50PM (4/22/2009)
Wow...at least it's a step up from segways and golf carts ;)
Reply
Shawn 1:52PM (4/22/2009)
...So basically you end up with a police car that cannot chase, cannot transport, not enough trunk space to hold the equipments, and the occupants face death/injury if struck by a Camry.
I guess nothing ever happens in Belle Isle.
Reply
s13hybrid 2:02PM (4/22/2009)
I have to agree, but if it saves gas aka my tax dollars (although I do not live there) then go right ahead. I see little reason to have tons of crown vics driving around, those should really be used for criminal transport in my opinion. If all the equipment can fit in this, I say why not.
Shawn 2:11PM (4/22/2009)
s13hybrid...if they wanted to save on gas, the Fusion Hybrid easily kicks ForTwo's poor performance... Not to mention the Fusion would actually be functional.
benzaholic 3:40PM (4/22/2009)
possible death if struck by a C-Class. We don't know exactly how it would do against a Camry.
s13hybrid 3:52PM (4/22/2009)
Shawn - I totally agree with your statement that there are far better cars out there to save gas, and I am unsure why they have chosen the Smart, but either way it is saving gas.
Are there any tight city driving in Belle Isle? That is the only reason I would get a Smart over some other more fuel efficient vehicle.
Rich 3:53PM (4/22/2009)
Take a look at how civilized countries handle neighborhood patrols. Fiestas, small Peugeots, and (here's something the US *has* managed to learn from) bicycles. Not every Police vehicle needs to be a traffic chase vehicle. They use Scoobs, Volvos, Mercs, BMWs, and the like for that.
But dimwits like you wouldn't know that because it's highly probably you don't even have a passport.
aj121489 6:22PM (4/22/2009)
@ Rich
So we're dimwits just because it's "highly probably" we don't have passports? The US is only bordered by two countries and currently we don't (technically) need a passport to cross either border. Most people are either so far from Mexico or Canada that they wouldn't need to cross the border or they just don't wanna go to either. I fall in both of those for now. Other than that it takes a really big trip to go anywhere that would require a passport, so what's the need?
I do agree with you that not all cop cars have to be chase cars, but it's a Smart. All the cars you listed at least have four doors so if someone needs to be arrested the police can do so. Notice chase was only one of the four things Shawn listed.
@ Shawn
I live less than 20 miles from Belle Isle here at UCF but I've never heard of it, so it's gotta be pretty tiny lol
DiRF 1:59PM (4/22/2009)
*sees Mercedes badge shabbily attached to the front*
*shakes head*
Reply
Jared 2:03PM (4/22/2009)
+1 on your observational skills.