A week ago our mate and motoring Journo Josh Dowling published a cracking great photo of a new NSW Police Highway Patrol vehicle – the awesome thing being, it’s the new Ford Mustang. EFTM has obtained a stack of great new pics showing the car in a whole lot more detail.
This is one of several vehicles being looked at to form part of the NSW Police arsenal of vehicles – in particular and most importantly – for Highway Patrol duties across the State once the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore cease production in Australia.
Our photos confirm what News Ltd had reported earlier – the car is yet to be fitted with lights and sirens up top. In addition any technology and computers such as number-plate scanners, police radio, police mobile data terminal (MDT) and front and rear facing video cameras to record all the action.
It’s actually still undergoing a large number of tests, one of which is brake testing – EFTM understands the Mustang failed at its first attempt with many more to come as the car is adjusted to suit.
What we can see is that it’s slated for use in “Operation Freeflow”. Freeflow is a dual purpose operation which serves to deter traffic offences simply by being seen, but also provide a rapid response to any issues on the Sydney Freeways (M1, M2, M7, M5, M4 etc) to help quickly free up any hazards to get things flowing.
For that reason it’s unlikely to be fitted with a Radar, and it’s likely there’s a bit of work going on to ensure the standard NSW police light rig can be fitted given the unusually sloped roof of the coupe compared to the Falcon or Commodore sedan.
In case you’re wondering – the callsign TRF299 relates to its general assignment to the Highway Patrol Command instead of one particular region of NSW.
While I certainly don’t want to see it behind me with flashing lights and siren blaring, I for one can’t wait to see it out on the roads.
