Although I know all police cars haul a** how do they decide who gets the real cool ones?

Don't bag on the caprice. That was an amazing police car. In all seriousness, when I became an officer, the Caprices had already been discontinued, but they were still around here and there. For my money, it is a far better car then the Crown Vics at the time.

I've never seen a police department with Vipers. Mustangs tend to be limited to traffic enforcement or another specialized unit. While they are cool cars, they aren't the most practical for law enforcement.

Cars are generally given based on seniority. More senior officers tend to get first dibs at newer cars. Personally, as a supervisor, I take the oldest car I can get. If I wreck it...no one is going to care.

Usually depends on seniority like cop girl said. It also depends on how the vehicle was purchased or obtained... for instance if the mustang was taken during a drug investigation, the narcotics division will more than likely keep the car and use it. If a highway safety grant was used to buy cars, people that are on the departments traffic team ( the ones that write tickets and investigate accidents) will get the car. The basic Patrol Officer will drive a fleet vehicle, usually the same as everyone else unless they get into some specialized units as listed above. When new vehicles are ordered in our department the oldest vehicle is automatically replaced with a new one regardless of who drives it.

All we have are Crown Vics...ho hum...

The Caprices were great cruisers. Lots of power and they stuck to the road like glue.

No one wants the smelly car (no matter how much they clean it) or the one that makes that funny noise, every police department has them. For us, it is the first person to the car peg board that gets the car they want. So, if you get to work early and the previous shift doesn't already have it out (we have an overlap on shifts), you get the car you want.

It depends on the rank, or even the budget of the department. Some departments are still driving the old cars.

Seniority, usually. I drive the new Charger. I LOVE IT!