One of the newest – and arguably the coolest – vehicles in the Czech national police fleet can reach top speeds of over 320 km/h and is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it cost them less than the price of a domestic station wagon.
Czech police repurposed a seized 2011 Ferrari F 142-458 Italia as a patrol car and started using it as one of their fleet vehicles, police spokesman Jakub Vincalek said in a statement.
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The car is one of many that police seize from criminals each year, Vincalek said, most of which are sold, with the proceeds covering any damage inflicted by the criminal. The Ferrari was not even the most valuable or rare among the vehicles seized by the police, he added, although it is perhaps the “most luxurious” among the hundreds of seized cars that are turned into police vehicles.
But it has proved useful – among a wide variety of tasks, said Colonel Jiri Zly, director of the traffic police service – in chasing down stolen vehicles passing through the Czech Republic, patrolling roads and cracking down on illegal street racing, which often involves high performance that ordinary Czech police cars cannot compete with.
The Ferrari, which was originally red, had about 2000 km. A similar model from the same year is selling for $275,000. The cost for police to retrofit the vehicle with police markings and equipment, including a camera, radio and speedometer, was about $14,000, Vincalek said.
Other police forces around the world have also introduced more luxurious or faster vehicles to their fleets. Dubai Police, already known for driving Bugatti supercars, brought an Aston Martin Vantage into their fleet last year. The car had a custom license plate “77”, a reference to James Bond, who drove the famous Aston Martins, and the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai government said in a statement.
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