The previous generation of Dodge Charger has become a mainstay of police forces around the country. Following the demise of the much-loved Ford Crown Victoria, the Charger has mostly taken its spot as the go-to patrol and pursuit vehicle, with officers utilizing its optional V8 power, all-wheel drive, and spacious cabin to execute their duties.
The last-generation Charger was discontinued in December 2023, leaving police forces nationwide to turn to heavier SUVs like the Dodge Durango, Ford Explorer, and Chevrolet Tahoe for patrol duties. A new Charger does exist, mind you, but being available only as an EV for the past year makes it unsuitable for many departments’ needs. (Gas-powered Chargers just kicked off production this month, but with a starting price of $53,990 for the sedan, they’re not exactly the economical choice).
While those SUVs I listed earlier are nice and spacious, they’re not exactly meant for actual pursuit duties. They’re heavier and have a higher center of gravity, putting them at a disadvantage versus the lower-slung, lighter-weight Chargers.
Instead of waiting for the new gas-powered Charger sedan, many departments have turned to a more purpose-built vehicle that puts performance before practicality and efficiency: the Ford Mustang. And the New York State Police will soon be one of those departments.
The Mustang Has Become The Go-To For Several Departments
Since the last-gen Charger’s demise, the Mustang has seen a boon in interest from police departments for its V8 power–something neither Dodge nor Chevy offers in anything other than its big SUVs and pickup trucks.
“We have seen a number of police departments across the country purchase Mustangs for law enforcement,” a Ford spokesperson told me over email.
Looking for that sort of grunt, the Georgia State Patrol decided to add 15 Mustangs to its fleet in May 2024. Soon after, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in South Carolina bought 17 Mustang GTs for its department that July. North Carolina added 25 Mustang GTs to its Highway Patrol fleet in February of this year. In July, Virginia State Troopers and the Florida Highway Patrol added Mustang GTs to their respective fleets. Just last month, Indiana added five Mustangs to its State Patrol.
The raw power from the Mustang GT’s 480-horsepower eight-cylinder was a big motivator for the department in Georgia, which also currently runs a small selection of Camaros and Challengers. From the Detroit Free Press:
“The V8 is a durable engine that can meet the demands of law enforcement,” Major David Bryant of the Georgia State Patrol told the Free Press. “The Mustang has a faster 0-60 time and a higher top speed than the other patrol vehicles in our fleet … Most of the new Mustangs will go to patrol posts that cover the interstate system in Georgia.”
[…]
“We need speed for speed enforcement and pursuits,” Capt. Shane Allen of the Georgia State Patrol told the Free Press. “We’re definitely mindful of the dangers and the liability involved. Of course, we train for those things – in trooper school and annual in-service trainings. We’re not forced to pursue. We’re allowed to call a chase off if we think danger to the public is greater than catching the person at the time.”
[…]
The V8 engine meets police needs, Allen said. “Truth is, everything is getting faster. Vehicles we try to stop every day are getting faster, from a Kia to a Mercedes. This is a way for us to keep up with the changes in the vehicle market.”
While I’m not entirely convinced a V8 is necessary for this sort of job, I’d much rather have a Mustang over the gas-powered Charger Sixpack if my goal was to chase down criminals. While the Dodge gets standard all-wheel drive, the inline-six in that car makes 60 fewer horsepower, while being nearly half a ton heavier and costing about $3,000 more than a base Mustang GT. That being said, Indiana officials told the Indiana Capital Chronicle its Mustangs are “meant to deter, not invite, pursuits.”
The Mustangs, which still make up a small fraction of some of these forces, are good for more than just speed. Sports cars turned into police cruisers, Need for Speed: Most Wanted style, are inherently cool to most people, making these GT patrol cars big hits for community engagement and at recruiting events.
“Many agencies across the country are using Mustang GT for detective work, on-duty work, and in their recruitment efforts for new police academy enrollment,” another Ford spokesperson told me.
This isn’t the first time the Mustang has made a name for itself in law enforcement. The Foxbody-generation Mustang SSP graced the fleets of several police departments throughout the 1980s, with those models now among the most valuable Foxbodys you can buy.
Add New York To The List
The whole reason I’m writing about the Mustang’s rise to prominence in the law enforcement sector is thanks to a post on Facebook I saw in a Group relating to the Taconic State Parkway, a road that runs 104 miles from the northern tip of New York City up the east side of the Hudson River.
Dave Ferringer, the post’s author, claims to have spoken to an unnamed New York State Trooper, who told Ferringer the agency would be joining the States mentioned above in adding Mustangs to their fleet to catch people who are purposefully running from the cops for clout. From that post:
Per the trooper I spoke to ( troop K ) they are tired of being dusted in chases even in their v8 powered chargers. There are several popular YouTubers who make a living running from the cops across the nation and the biggest of them happen to be in NY. Let that be a warning to you, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, but better come with enough ponies & car control to do what you want to do.
Having spent hours upon hours using the Taconic State Parkway to get from my home in New York City to places like Lime Rock Park in western Connecticut, I was intrigued. While it’s true that influencers in New York, such as Squeeze and License, have gained huge followings on social media for evading police, the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, has recently pushed to ban high-speed police pursuits altogether. From a report published in June (emphasis mine):
Police chases have been shown to increase danger and result in injury or fatalities to drivers, passengers, bystanders, and police. We offer the following recommendations:
-Pass legislation to increase transparency
New York law enforcement agencies should be required to track and publish a standardized set of data about traffic pursuits and high-speed chases. This should be facilitated by a centralized agency such as the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).
–Ban high-speed police pursuits, with very narrow exceptions
High-speed chases can be deadly. Chases may be necessary when a serious or violent felony has been or will be committed, and when the driver’s conduct poses an imminent threat of death. But, in large part, ordinary speeding or minor traffic infractions should not lead to a high-speed, dangerous chase.
Yet, the State Police confirmed to me via email that not only is it planning to add Mustangs to its force, but it already has one in its possession. From Beau Duffy, the State Police force’s executive director of public communication:
The New York State Police will be adding Ford Mustang GTs for traffic enforcement on high-volume interstates and highways. Since the Dodge Charger police car is no longer being manufactured, the State Police is moving toward SUVs for patrol vehicles, including the Dodge Durango, Ford Explorer and Chevrolet Tahoe.
Like the Georgia State Patrol, the NYSP specifically cites the Mustang’s performance capabilities for why it was chosen:
The Mustangs’ will have the speed and handling capabilities necessary for patrol operations and special enforcement details on high-volume interstates and highways, working together with the larger patrol SUVs. The NYSP has purchased one 2025 Mustang GT and anticipate attaining some 2026 Mustang GT models. The Mustangs should be available for patrol and traffic enforcement sometime next year. Specific details on deployment have not yet been determined.
While the New York State Police wasn’t specific about why it wants the speed and handling capabilities of the Mustang in its force, I can think of only one logical reason: So the cops can keep up with people trying to flee.
The decision to add muscle cars to the fleet comes as high-speed pursuits have surged in New York in recent years, with pursuits involving State Troopers doubling from 2018 to 2024, according to the Times Union. The publication did a whole deep dive last year on high-speed chases in the state, finding, perhaps unsurprisingly, that crashes and deaths also rose as a result:
As chases become more common in New York, so have pursuit-related car crashes and deaths, the Times Union found. A decade of New York crash data shows a notable rise in pursuit-related car crashes in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the same years when pursuits climbed in the state.
There were also more deadly pursuits in the past four years in New York than at any other time since 2012, the Times Union found. There have been four fatal pursuits resulting in seven deaths in the first half of this year.
One might suspect that giving State Troopers access to high-powered muscle cars could continue this upward trend of pursuits, as officers feel empowered to chase down fleeing cars in their shiny new Mustangs. Whether that’ll happen or the state will actually clamp down on high-speed chases, well, the world will have to wait and see.
Top graphic image: North Carolina State Highway Patrol; ESPN
I have a better idea:
“Federal statute defines domestic terrorism as:
[A]ctivities that–
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State”
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46829
Intentionally provoking a high speed police chase on public streets sounds like a fit to me! Time for these jerks to get to disappeared off YouTube if not off the face of the earth.
Reminds me of a story back when I commuted on I-25 north of Denver, so no later than 2002. I’m heading home and there’s a dude in a yellow, late 4th Gen Camaro was basically being an ass in traffic. Wasn’t super heavy, but a little slower than the speed limit because of volume. Swerving in and out and they spot another Camaro and decide they want to get up there to race it. Work their way next to it and take off…that’s when they learned the Colorado State Patrol had unmarked Camaro pursuit vehicles and they’d just challenged one to a race.
In Washington state, the WSP had a variety of unmarked patrol vehicles including a pair of Volvo V70 Rs. They also have three Cessna 182s and two 206s all with FLIR cameras. And a King Air 200. All those are pretty hard to outrun.
I have thoughts, but the main one is – why is The Autopian creating or using obviously edited (or AI generated) hero images for it’s articles? That is very obviously a NC HWP vehicle with a NY emblem edited in (its not even the right color). Here’s the proof:
https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/mM2OYR/s1/2024-ford-mustang-gt-north-carolina-state-highway-patrol.webp
The Trooper in the car also looks edited, but I don’t have any actual photographic proof of that one….
Not cool at all Autopian.
They create all of the images at the top of the articles? At the least they’re adding text and cropping the images they start with. They’ve got a person on staff who does the image editing, it’s not AI.
The problem with this is that now when you search for NY Mustang Patrol Car, this inaccurate image will come up for the forseeable future. Just adds to the cesspool of misinformation. <insert old man yelling at cloud here>
Pretty sure they edited it themselves, and the trooper in the image is from a meme.
I think if this were clearly “meme-ish”, it would be fine, but it feels more like disinformation in it’s current state. May just be me….
I see your point, I didn’t spot the edit of the door decal the first time I looked, just the funny trooper inside, so I could have been led to believe that the NY state police is painting their Mustangs black and silver in that scheme. I’m not sure what consequences that might have for a reader, but it might be best to be safe than sorry. The trooper, though, is just a funny easter egg to me.
Nobody has yet actually proved that Torch is an AI made out of 2,800 surplus Apple IIs. That’s just a nasty rumor!
I’ve met him in person, and I’m still not 100% sure…..
Oh, come on… Torch isn’t using 2800 Apple IIs to make AI images with…
He’s using 1800 Apple Lisas and 1000 Amiga 500s. Get it right!
New here? Their header images have been intentionally odd and quirky since Jalopnik, frequently made by Jason. I cannot fathom how anyone could possibly be harmed by depicting an altered police car livery on an article. I do not comprehend how this is something to be offended by
Dear Autopian, to balance out one negative opinion with my own, I appreciate the header image! Seeing the Chad Trooper edited into the cruiser gave me a genuine light chuckle.
Nah, here from the start, but I am a bit hung over this morning so maybe just salty.
Hungover on a Wednesday morning? Friend, either you lead a much more exciting life than I, or you need some help. Wishing you the best
I’m in sales, I don’t really drink normally, and its christmas party season. It’s the perfect recipe for a hang over.
If you go back and look at the 2023 MSP police vehicle testing you’ll find that the EcoBoost Interceptor Utility is the fastest one around the track and beats the 5.7 Charger in top speed and 0-60. The Charger does win in the 0-80 and higher acceleration runs and distance to top speed.
So help me understand this. The police spends a buttload of money on ALPRs including those creepy ass Flock cameras all over the place. They have access to mobile phone data, likely including real-time location data. They all have radios and most have a helicopter or two at their disposal, drones too. The so-called clout chasers are posting their videos on popular social media platforms where they can be easily subpoenaed leading to the home of the offenders.
Despite all that, the best solution to this problems is a new Mustang?
The level of hubris it takes to make such a statement with a straight face is amazing. Your tax dollars at work ladies and gentlemen. I’m sure nothing bad could possibly happen with upping the stakes by enabling higher speed chases, now with 74% more danger!
It always seems that when the police want to find someone, they manage to eventually get it done–unless they can justify buying new toys it seems. We should definitely get them some more insanely expensive crap to use. More former military vehicles, bigger/better guns, faster cars, more invasive technology, pretty soon there won’t be any crime left!
Or – hear me out – one might try installing static speed traps with cameras along interstates and such. Just kidding, because that would probably entail making front license plates mandatory. Much better to have high-speed chases on public roads just like in the old times.
I mean, they could. New York requires a front plate already.
But it’s also New York, willingly spending money when it doesn’t need to for the betterment of no one. This is the same state that buckled and paid for a new, lower attendance stadium for the Buffalo Bills football team because the owners threated to leave if the taxpayer didn’t pay for the stadium.
Since I left the area in 1993 I had to do a little research, first because I forgot where the Taconic started and the to track down the Parkway Police. In the way back time Westchester County had sa police agency just for parkways but rolled them into the Sheriff’s department in 1979.
I never drove the Taconic much since I lived near White Plains and instead spent my life on the Bronx River Parkway. I did ride the full length on a motorcycle a couple of times but don’t remember much. I think the cops had either Mustangs or Camaros then so I guess time is a flat circle or something.
Nope, not once dipping my toe into this one. Its autopian and not defector.
I have thoughts, but not here.
Ummm, that’s not a NY Mustang in the top pic, it’s a North Carolina Mustang. I’m good friends with a trooper who has one assigned to him in western NC. Who butchered the seal on the door to say New York State Police?
Wow! Really? Next you’re going to tell me that the trooper’s name in the header image isn’t Cassius Thundercock /S
I was pulled over by officer Thundercock. He was way more gentle and professional than his name would have you believe.
I have no idea if this is a bit or if you actually are prone to speeding on Tennessee highways where Officer Cassius patrols (under a pseudonym, the coward), and that makes the comment that much more enjoyable
With radio communications and Mustangs, idiots can be caught and held at the side of the road until a Tahoe scoops them up. There isn’t a need to stuff anyone into the back of a Mustang.
How are they going to force anyone to pull over? I don’t feel that anyone who has engaged in a high-speed chase is going to say “yep, you caught up to me so I’ll just pull over now” and not when they were initially lit up. I don’t think they’re going to PIT the speeder and they probably won’t have the nifty webbing wheel catcher things on the front of those mustangs. So, what, just keeping the speeder in visual range until they can be intercepted by other units later?
So much of policing is cosplay even though the uniforms are real.
“Taconic State Parkway, a road that runs 104 miles from the northern tip of New York City up the east side of the Hudson River.”
-NO, NO, NO!!!!!! The Taconic DOES NOT TOUCH nyc!!!!!!! It starts in North White Plains, about 20 miles north of nyc in Westchester County, NY, and ends in East Chatham, in Columbia County, NY!!!!!!
Trap the guys, crush their cars, put them in prison forever, and take their ill-gotten gains and put it to work making some highways less of a deathtrap instead.
Youtube just recommended me the Hellcat Mike arrest video, so great timing on this post.
I got the same recommendation! Darn algorithm…
I thought we had all agreed another (or more) idiots driving well above 100 mph to chase down the “bad guy” just puts more people in danger?
How long before NYSP are running down crowds or killing innocent travelers during a “high speed pursuit”?
Today I’m learning that apparently you can be an “influencer” online, post videos that show you getting away from police, and a swat team won’t show up at your home later.
I’m honestly shocked youtube hasn’t taken down their videos and banned their accounts.
Well, they’re probably very careful not to use any copyrighted music in their videos, you see.
They’re also probably not Latino…
I really hate that we live in a timeline where this is a problem
I have once again figured out a better way. Everyone is trying to use an EV motor with an ICE generator. I’m thinking use a V8 with a backup battery power source. Look usually cops are not using the full capacity of the V8. So have the extra capacity to charge the battery instead of being wasted. Then when needed the EV power is needed it is fully charged. All the time cop cars sit idling can be used to keep the battery charged. Make it dual purpose so at full charge it uses batteries but not below 50%.
I guess I can give them a head start…..
Baffling that social media companies are allowed to run and monetize those videos…
While I do have serious questions about the safety of troopers engaging in high-speed pursuits, I do not share the prevailing opinion that departments should not be using their budgets to buy 5.0 Mustangs. I don’t know how much a fleet Tahoe MSRPs for, but base MSRP for base MSRP from the consumer facing websites, a 5.0 Mustang is something like $15k cheaper than a base Tahoe. I think there’s absolutely a world where a good portion of highway patrolling could be more effectively done using a combination of Mustangs and Tahoes. Plus they look so cool.
Bonus: The 5.0 will be more reliable.
I guess it makes the enforcement of the law much more efficient if they’re arresting themselves for wiping out a food truck while peeling out of a Cars and Coffee.
They’ve investigated themselves and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
“You can’t outrun the Motorolla” was doctrine decades ago. Surprised this is still such a thing.
You can’t outrun Motorola in less dense states where the distance between exits are between 5 and 25 miles apart. That’s most of the US.
You can in the northeast Megalopolis where highway exits can be every mile — or multiple per mile — at points in the denser parts of those states.
Historically, a lot of the “clout chasing” in New York would be fairly close to NYC, and sometimes on the Manhattan ring road itself. The sheer amount of opportunities for someone to dump off the highway is enormous, and can appear every N seconds. A trooper is just getting moving and the suspect, now out of view and entirely obscured by traffic, is completely off the highway. Unless the trooper got the plate, they’re SOL.
EDIT: To be fair, the only very meaningful advantage a Mustang likely offers in those cases is the Mustang is smaller and can more easily get through traffic once their lights are on. It can close gaps quicker as well, but the state police are unsurprisingly reluctant to also “cut up” traffic themselves.
I feel like a few years back, we were seeing a lot of stories about police departments switching to electric patrol cars, with many touting enormous gas/maintenance savings. What happened? Was it inaccurate? Did the upfront investment become too expensive? Is it just not for everyone? Would like to see a follow-up article on that.
NY State Troopers are usually responsible for large geographic areas. Many, many miles of turnpikes, highways, and the oddly named parkway. These are not the areas an electric car would be considered advantageous.
A small town near me has a bunch of F-150 lightnings for their PD. Seems like a great application. It’s somewhat interesting though since the town is a mix of hippie, progressive and mountain man hillbilly with the latter dominating.
Use your radios assholes.
My 1st car was enough to out run a crownvic. Not exactly a sports car 100hp topaz.
New Mustang sounds nice but I worry that departments will saddle them with tires fresh from China tractor plant #543. Somehow even worse than the pzero.
Not sure where you live but the police always have money for proper kit. Look at any large US city’s budget and the PD takes a large percent of the total.
The town next to us bought an ex military monster armored Oshkosh truck for if they have to drive through a building or something, even the small town police budgets can be crazy sometimes.