Law enforcement and Crown Victorias

It's the vehicle of choice for most law enforcement agencies around Oklahoma and the country, Ford's Crown Victoria. <br><br>But safety groups are asking for the cars to be pulled off the market.

Wednesday, September 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

It's the vehicle of choice for most law enforcement agencies around Oklahoma and the country, Ford's Crown Victoria.

But safety groups are asking for the cars to be pulled off the market. News on Six Reporter Patrina Adger has the story. There are at least 400,000 Crown Victoria patrol cars on the road. Oklahoma law agencies use them almost exclusively. But some of these vehicle are putting troopers in the line of fire.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Antonio Porter has been patrolling the highways in the Tulsa area for 13 years. He works the day shift riding in this Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, laying down the law. But he says there are fears with doing that. â€œMaking a traffic stop on I-44â€

Whether he's in or out of his patrol car, he says his main concern is safety. "Sometimes you may not have a good spot to pull them over. We've had several incidents where troopers have been hit while conducting traffic stops, being rear-ended." While the troopers in Oklahoma have all escaped without injury, twelve law enforcement officers around the country have burned to death in fiery crashes after their Crown Victorias were hit from behind.

Safety advocates say they blame a faulty fuel tank design in which the vertical tank mounted behind the rear axle of the police car is pushed forward causing the car to burst into flames. Ford says the problems happen only in rare high-speed crashes. But they also say in this statement: â€œThe Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is a safe and effective vehicle for police work.â€

Ford accepts the challenge to look for additional opportunities to make the vehicle and the police-working environment even safer in very high-risk situations.

Porter says whether OHP should continue to use the Crown Victorias as the vehicle of choice is up to the department. But he says it's a very reliable vehicle. "Or we wouldn't be driving them."

The fuel tank on the Crown Victorias located between the rear axle and the back bumper. The OHP out of Oklahoma City and they say there aren't any plans to pull any of the Crown Victorias that are currently on the road.

As a matter of fact they tell KOTV, they have already ordered their 2003 models.