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Police car glossary

30 terms used on this site and in the Michigan test books, each explained in a few lines and linked to the evidence.

0–9

9C1

General Motors’ order code for the Chevrolet police package, covering suspension, steering, brakes, driveline and cooling. Contrary to a common claim, it did not include a special reinforced frame. See police package option codes.

A

A38

Chrysler’s code for its Police Pursuit Package on Dodge and Plymouth police cars. It existed before 1974, ran until 1983 and was replaced by a different code from 1984. See police package option codes.

Anti-lock brakes (ABS)

For the 1996 test Ford submitted a Crown Victoria without anti-lock brakes to Michigan for brake testing only, and it was braked beside one that had them, on the same day at the same site. The difference was about sixteen feet. See Sixteen feet.

Average deceleration rate

Michigan’s braking score: the average rate at which a car slowed in its measured stops from 60 mph, in feet per second per second. A higher rate means a shorter stop. The stopping distance from exactly 60 mph follows from it; where a book prints only the measured stops and the rate, this site computes that distance and says so. See how the Michigan test works.

B

B4C

The name collectors use for the police Camaro, which Michigan tested from 1991 to 2002. The Michigan books call it simply a Camaro and print Chevrolet’s sales code as 1FP87; in the documents held here B4C appears in the Police magazine buyer’s guide filed with the 1992 book, which also labels a Lumina B4C. See the Camaro B4C.

Bid adjustment

Michigan’s test is a purchasing exercise. In the books that print the method, each car’s weighted score moves its maker’s bid by a fixed amount per point, so a car that scores well can still lose on price. The draft 1985 specification says the car bought “will be determined by the adjusted low bid price”. See how the Michigan test works.

Braking procedure

Michigan brakes each car repeatedly from 60 mph; before the 2012 book, each sequence was opened by heat-up stops. Before the 1999 book two stops were measured; from 1999, twelve; from the 2012 book, twenty, in two sets of ten. Figures from different procedures are not directly comparable. See the records.

Bulletin

For several years this site holds Michigan’s results through a federal bulletin rather than the full book: summaries published by the National Institute of Justice’s Technology Assessment Program and, later, the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC); the 1993 results are held as the bulletin reprinted in The Police Chief. Each year page says which document it is built from. See the test archive.

C

California specification

Cars built to California’s own emissions rules. Chrysler’s 1980 police catalogue marks the St. Regis’s 360 engine “(Not available in California)” and says California models had a four-barrel version of the 318. See the St. Regis in Michigan.

Certified speedometer

A speedometer calibrated for police use. On Chrysler cars it carried its own code, separate from the package code, and it was specified for a legal reason: an officer could have to swear to what it read under oath. Chrysler’s 1980 police catalogue made an 85 mph non-certified speedometer standard and one certified to 125 mph an extra-cost option. See how to identify a genuine police package car.

Communications score

A grade for how difficult it is to install the police radio and equipment in a car. In the 1980 book it is scored by “Personnel from the departmental Radio Installation and Garage units”. In some books it is a separate score, in others part of one ergonomics and communications total. See how the Michigan test works.

D

Dog car

The nickname for the 1980 Dodge St. Regis in California service. The St. Regis Michigan tested that year was built to a different specification, with the 360 engine California could not buy, and ran 122.7 mph. See the St. Regis in Michigan.

Dynamics

Michigan’s name for timed laps of a road course. The score is the average of many timed laps across several drivers (in most books, each car’s fastest), not a single fast lap. From the 2001 book the laps are run at Grattan Raceway, so earlier lap times are from a different course. See the records.

E

Ergonomics

Attributes graded by officers who sit in the car and work in it, such as reach, visibility and where the equipment goes. The number of items varies: twenty-nine ergonomics and communications items on the 1990 sheet and twenty-eight in the 1994 book; the 1978 ergonomics form alone has fifty-one. See how the Michigan test works.

F

FMVSS 127

The federal standard that capped speedometers at 85 mph, in force from 1 September 1979 until it was revoked in 1982. It never applied to police cars: its text exempted a speedometer in a car sold to a law enforcement agency. See the corrections page.

G

Governor

The 1992 book’s word for a device that limited top speed: its preface notes that two Caprices had “governors” which limited their top speeds to the figures shown. See when the top speed stopped being a measurement.

I

Impending-skid stop

A stop at the highest deceleration the car can reach under control. Before the 2012 book, Michigan’s measured braking stops were impending-skid stops from 60 mph; the 1980 book describes “a controlled impending skid stop from 60 mph at maximum deceleration rate attainable”. See how the Michigan test works.

P

P71

Ford’s sales code for the Crown Victoria police car as the Michigan books print it: P-72 in the 1990 and 1992 books, P-71 in 1994, and P71 in every later vehicle description the site has transcribed for it, through the 2011 book; the 2002 long-wheelbase car is P70. See what the books record.

Panther

The body-on-frame, rear-drive Ford under the Crown Victoria, in the Michigan books from 1983 to 2011. The Taurus-based Police Interceptor sedan that followed in 2012 is a different car. See the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.

Police Interceptor

Ford’s name for its police vehicles, on and off for more than seventy years: first, as plain Interceptor, on an engine in the early 1950s, then on the Crown Victoria (in the Michigan books from 1999), a Taurus-based sedan and an Explorer-based sport utility. See the Police Interceptor name.

Police package

A factory option that turned an ordinary car into a police car: heavier suspension, cooling, charging and brakes, often with a certified speedometer ordered separately. It was running gear, not bodywork. See what is a police package car.

PPV

Chevrolet’s abbreviation for its police-package Tahoe, used in many Michigan books from 2005 (in the 2026 book also for its Blazer EV and Silverado). The 2026 book expands it as Police Pursuit Vehicle; the December 2004 federal bulletin called it the Police Package Vehicle. See the Chevrolet Tahoe.

Pursuit capable

The phrase the Michigan books from 2018 prefer to “pursuit rated”. See the article on “pursuit rated”.

Pursuit rated

A phrase with no sanctioning body behind it. The 2018 Michigan book says there are no specific performance criteria attached to it, and that neither the Michigan State Police nor the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department can award it. See the article on “pursuit rated”.

Q

Qualification standards

The minimums a car had to meet before it could bid. In the 1980 book a full-size car needed 60 mph in 13.0 seconds, 80 in 23.0, 100 in 43.0, and 110 mph within 3 miles; the book says failing any part meant disqualification. The books from 1978 to 1987 name six vehicles eliminated or disqualified. No later document held here names one, though books from 1981 on list vehicles that missed a printed minimum without saying they were out. See the vehicles that failed.

S

Sales code

The manufacturer’s model code printed on a book’s vehicle description page, such as P71 for the Crown Victoria police car or 1FP87 for the Camaro. See police vehicle specifications.

Special service

A term whose meaning changed. In the early 1990s books the special service package cars included the fast two-doors, the Mustangs and Camaros, alongside a Caprice station wagon. In later books Michigan puts special service vehicles in a separate section headed with a warning that they are not engineered for high-speed or pursuit driving. See what a police package actually buys.

Speed limiter

A device that caps a vehicle’s top speed. From the 2003 bulletin Michigan states that the vehicles tested have one. A limiter mark says a limiter was fitted, so the figure may be the limiter’s setting rather than the most the car could do. See when the top speed stopped being a measurement.

SSP

Special Service Package, Ford’s name for its police Mustang. Michigan tested Mustangs from 1982 to 1993; the books do not say which of the cars carried Ford’s package. See the Mustang SSP.

T

Top speed

In Michigan’s books, the highest speed a car reaches within a set distance from a standing start: 15 miles in the 1980 book, 14 in the 1990, 1992 and 1994 books. From the 1992 book some top speeds are marked as recorded with a governor or limiter fitted. See how the Michigan test works.