July 10, 2014 - Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Police Chief David Rausch introduced the Dodge Charger as the Knoxville Police Department's patrol car of the future. Twenty Chargers are currently awaiting installation of emergency equipment and will be placed into service over the next few weeks.

Chief Rausch said the department began an extensive evaluation of the potential patrol vehicles in October 2012. The evaluation was required due to Ford Motor Company discontinuing production of the Crown Victoria. The police department along with Knoxville Fleet Services purchased five vehicle models developed by Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge that had been marketed as police vehicles. The test vehicles were driven 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week for the first six months. The vehicles were then assigned to patrol officers to utilize as their full time patrol vehicle.

Chief Rausch said, "Throughout the evaluation process officers completed a comprehensive evaluation form that focused on two major aspects of the testing process; vehicle performance and vehicle ergonomics. In addition, fleet services kept constant oversight on maintenance issues and costs of operation."

"The Dodge Charger was the clear choice to serve the Knoxville Police Department as the patrol car of the future," said Chief Rausch.


The comprehensive testing resulted in the Dodge Charger outscoring other test vehicles in all thirty-four evaluated categories including lowest cost per mile driven, emergency acceleration, emergency braking, emergency steering, visibility and ease of officer entry and exit from the vehicle.

Vehicles utilized during the evaluation process and their scores included the following:

Dodge Charger with a score of 9.89
Chevrolet Caprice (2-vehicles with different engines) with a score of 7.66
Ford Interceptor (2-vehicles with different engines) with a score of 6.31

In addition to the new patrol vehicle for the department, citizens will see another change. For the first time in recent history, KPD patrol cars will be silver in color instead of the traditional white vehicle. The new color will easily allow the public to clearly identify a KPD vehicle. The silver color will not add any additional cost to the $23,763 vehicle price.

Chief Rausch said, "The testing and evaluation of the five potential replacement vehicles has been long, arduous, and comprehensive. Through extensive officer testing it is clear that the best choice for our officers is the Dodge Charger."