Hot pursuits are over for one police cruiser. But its opportunity to protect and serve is extended indefinitely.
A 2013 Ford Taurus 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost sedan police interceptor rolled off a trailer and into a shop recently inside one of Canadian Valley Technology Center’s newest programs. The car was formerly the property of the Jones Police Department.
CV Tech instructor Alicia Wright works as a reserve police officer in Jones. She knew the city planned to surplus its aging cruisers and helped broker a deal to acquire it for the school for less than $2,000.
The car is going to be a training tool for students in the new Emergency Services program. Though focused on criminal justice, the program also immerses students into emergency medical response and fire safety.
Graduates will be equipped to become dispatchers, corrections officers and security guards. The program also provides a solid foundation for further education to those who want to become law enforcement officers, emergency first responders and firefighters.
Wright said she is thrilled about the new acquisition, and her students were just as excited to take turns sitting in the front seats and in the tiny, partitioned back seats. They role played as Five-O for 10 minutes before class resumed.
Training scenarios, she said, will include arrest procedures, radio use, light, siren and PA system use, traffic stops, vehicle accident investigations, searches and traffic codes.
Wright said she envisions other programs on campus pitching in to spruce up the car. Service Careers students already pledged to detail the inside. Auto Collision has a wash bay. Auto Service Technology students can assist with any mechanical issues. And Graphic Design students could assist with vehicle wrap graphics.
“I am sure there is a lot more we will use it for,” she said. “There’s even a fire radio in the car we can listen to.”
For Wright, the car is a homecoming of sorts.
“This car,” she said, “actually was my police take-home car around 2015 or 2016,”
She suspects a smile will cross her face each time she turns on the shop lights each day, because an old friend is there waiting to greet her.
