This is from the Miami Herald from Dec 2004
This is from the Miami Herald from Dec 2004
FHP'S `STEALTH' CARS AIM TO SLOW DOWN AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS
One of the best things Miami FHP Trooper Mike Transue's new car has going for it is that it looks like a lot of other cars you'd find in a condo parking lot.
The Florida Highway Patrol rolled out its newest weapon in the fight against aggressive driving Monday: 18 new ``stealth'' cars, high-performance Mercury Marauders. A third of them will be assigned to South Florida.
They are totally unmarked, even down to the regular-issue license plates. Their police lights are hidden behind the front grilles. They have chrome rims, and their windows are tinted, making it difficult to see the uniformed trooper inside.
Aggressive drivers ``are turning our highways into high-risk arenas,'' FHP chief Col. Chris Knight said. The department gets more complaints about aggressive driving - drivers who commit two or more moving violations simultaneously, such as speeding and weaving in and out of traffic - than any other subject. The department issued more than 700 citations in Broward and Palm Beach counties through Oct. 31 in an aggressive driving pilot program using three Marauders.
From July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004, there were nearly 8,800 citations for aggressive driving statewide.
Even in heavy traffic, said Broward Trooper Gary Slayton, who has been in a pilot project with the Marauder, ``We are seeing drivers running 100, 110 miles an hour.'' They speed, recklessly darting in and out of lanes, tailgating, passing in the emergency lanes and flashing their lights at cars in front of them.
The Marauders were donated by a benefactor who wants to remain anonymous, FHP spokesman Maj. Ernesto Duarte said.
Assigning 18 troopers to the job is ``the largest effort at combating aggressive driving in the Florida Highway Patrol's history,'' added Kevin Guidry, an FHP bureau chief in charge of the program.
The cockpit of Transue's Marauder is packed with radios and other electronics.
Go screaming past him and you'll be picked up on high-definition digital video and on radar pointing both forward and backward. Inside the car there is an infrared camera, so it's no longer the trooper's word against the driver.
``When you have the camera, they can't dispute it,'' Transue said.
When Transue hits the gas, he'll catch up faster than ever. And when he hits the dual sirens, the noise is louder.
Speed from a modified 302-horsepower engine is important. Instead of Transue taking a mile to catch somebody, he said he might catch them in a quarter of a mile.
``The faster I can catch up to that person and get him stopped, the safer it is for everybody,'' he said.
The Marauder's power is not only under the hood; it's also in what it does in the mind of the miscreant. It creates a fear of the unknown.
``If they don't see you, they don't fear you, and they own the roadway,'' Broward FHP Trooper Tony Lee explained.
``Because it is a Marauder and there are more Marauders on the roadway now, you really don't know whether it is a police car or not, Lee said.''
Ten years ago, if a trooper caught one speeder a week going more than 100 mph, it was a big deal.
On a typical midnight shift, Transue said, he gets ``two, three cars a night doing 100 or more.'' One night not long ago, he caught a car going 146 mph.
``People who are driving aggressively are focused on only one thing, getting to where they are going no matter how they get there,'' Transue said.
The Florida Highway Patrol's new Mercury Marauder:
Maker: Ford
Cost: $40,000 each
Engine: Modified 302 HP
Top speed: 150 mph
Key feature: Accelerates from 60 mph to 100 mph in five to six seconds.
Special equipment: Digital and infrared video recording; front-and-back radar; chrome wheel covers; regular license plates, not standard FHP tags.
Number donated to the FHP: 18
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