LAPD Goes MINI With An E

The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department has nabbed a once-in-a-lifetime lease to test run 17 MINI E’s. Now think about that for a minute… 

“It‘s got a cop engine. Cop brakes. Cop tires…”

Cop cars in the 70’s were awe-inspiring, weren’t they? They took a big Dodge or something and outfitted it with performance upgrades, painted it black and white and stuck a cherry on top and you knew you couldn’t outrun it. At least until Bullitt came along.

But now cop cars – in L.A. at least – are getting soft. MINI’s are a little too cute to be cop cars. Who’s going to pull over for an electric MINI, for crying out loud? And what’s going to happen when they launch into an O.J.-style chase and the battery starts fading? Maybe it’s an image thing. LAPD wants to appear to be green. More environmentally sensitive. That’s soooo California. Can you imagine a MINI E police car patrolling the streets of Detroit of Chicago?

Of course, you could follow the money. The BMW AC Propulsion cars will only cost the Sheriff just $10 a month whereas us civilians have to pay $850 a month IF you could win the lottery for one. And, the department reports, most of these cars will be stationed at administrative offices and used for recruitment and volunteers, not for chasing down bad guys.

Is this a hint at what FutureWorld will look like? Fleets of MINI E’s outside government departments beside giant electrical outlets? 

I’ll take mine with a cherry on top, thank you.