GILROY
– Move over Knight Rider, the Gilroy Police Department has a new
ride that would make even the famed crime-fighting car Kitt
jealous.
GILROY – Move over Knight Rider, the Gilroy Police Department has a new ride that would make even the famed crime-fighting car Kitt jealous.
No, this beefed up 2002 Chevrolet Camaro doesn’t talk like the ’80s TV star Kitt use to, but it does have plenty of attitude, power and speed. And, oh yeah, it has front and rear radar too.
“It’s radars are capable of clocking cars going in either direction, whether (the Camaro) is moving or still,” said GPD Sgt. Kurt Svardal. “It can clock anything at anytime, unlike some of the older cars. I’ll be driving it and people will have no concept at all that I’m clocking. It’s the most effective weapon against speeders we’ve ever had.”
Purchased by the GPD a little more than six months ago to replace the department’s aging Ford Mustang, the Camaro is now the designated traffic enforcement vehicle in Gilroy.
The sleek, white Camaro is considered a marked police car due to its GPD logos on both side doors, but it does have a slick top, meaning the car’s police lights are located inside the car. Smaller than a normal patrol car, the Camaro is not able to hold suspects and is designed strictly to pursue drivers exceeding the speed limit.
No other law agency in South County uses a Camaro, Svardal said.
“It’s the only one of its kind around,” he said. “When a car comes by doing twice the speed limit it’s always a challenge for the officer to catch up to the speeder. This makes it much easier to enforce the speed limit.”
As Gilroy’s population continues to swell, traffic control is becoming an increasingly important facet of the GPD’s enforcement, making the asset of the Camaro even more valuable, Svardal said.
But if there is one drawback to the Camaro, it’s the fact that the sporty speedster is a little small for some of the GPD’s larger officers to be sitting in for several hours at a time.
“I’m an average size guy and it’s a little tight,” Svardal said. “Some of guys who are 6′ 3″ and 6’4″ are scrapping their heads.”
