A California police department wants to be the first agency to have a law enforcement-branded Cybertruck, according to an internal email obtained by 404 Media.
The email Sergeant Jacob Gallacher, of the Anaheim Police Department, sent in early February read “P.S. I spoke with the Chief yesterday and we still want to be the first police agency to have a Cybertruck. If anyone can make that happen, I know it is you!” Gallacher sent the email to James Hedland from UP.FIT, a company that sells modified Teslas for use by law enforcement. The email was part of a conversation about the department’s use of Teslas.
Gallacher later told 404 Media that the email was something of “a joke,” but reaffirmed the agency’s wish to obtain a Cybertruck before other agencies, even if more for “community engagement” than using it as a patrol vehicle.
“We would, but it’s not necessarily from a patrol perspective,” Gallacher said. 404 Media obtained the email through a public records request.
Yes, we need the least functional, least capable, most failure prone, most brutalist vehicle possible. For community engagement.
EDIT: Also the most dangerous to both occupants and especially pedestrians.
OK, I’ll argue for the cops on this one. Just this once!
Community engagement is a real thing, gets people talking to cops who otherwise wouldn’t. And that can be a positive experience all around.
For example; The Tulsa cops had a bitchin’ (my 80s coming out) Corvette Stingray they showed off at the fair and every other chance they had. They had quite an audience gathered around, talking about the car at first and then asking questions about LE.
Idea being, it’s not supposed to be a regular cruiser.
At least Stingrays look good, I don’t think anyone’s gonna be crowding around a cybertruck asking about it’s specs
The YouTube channel Throttle House did a road trip with the cybertruck and they found that a lot of people actually were curious about it.
https://youtu.be/xNE-NyaYBcg?si=1CS2DxHsocEYc0b- (around 24:15)
For all it’s flaws, you can’t deny it looks different from all the other cars around, and most people aren’t online enough to have an opinion about Musk and his bullshit, so to them it’s just an interesting looking car.