Claiming They're Unsuitable for Police Work, Chicago Police Dropping Compacts

Chicago has become the sec­ond major city in recent weeks to abandon compact cars as unsuitable for general police work.

George Rupprecht, director of automotive maintenance for the Chicago Police Depart­ment, said the department's 125 compacts will be kept in service on a limited basis, but that no more will be purchased. The department has 25 each of five compact models-Comet, Falcon, Lark, Rambler and Valiant in a fleet of 1,800 ve­hicles.

Thus, Chicago joins Pitts­burgh in abandoning the com­pact as a police vehicle.

Rupprecht said a six-month test-from August to January to include the seasonal varia­tions-showed that operation­al costs for the compacts were "substantially" lower than for standard models, but that a number of other disadvantages more than offset the savings. (One disadvantage cited by Rupprecht was: "The smaller vehicles tend to distract from the image of the police officer as a figure of strength and authority.")

For operational comparisons, the compacts were used for regular assignments-traffic enforcement, patrol and rou­tine detective investigations.

Some policemen reported un­dergoing "excessive fatigue" after driving the compacts for eight hours in Chicago traffic, Rupprecht said. Others report­edly complained of backaches, cramped muscles and lack of leg room.

"The taller officers not only had insufficient leg room, but were forced to slouch in the seat to avoid hitting their heads on the roof," Rupprecht said. "The officers were unable to comply with the requirement that hats be worn in the ve­hicle, although this is also somewhat of a problem in some of the standard size vehicles. Visibility was limited in those instances where officers had to slouch in the seat. The need to slouch also interfered with the degree of alertness which the officer could display."

For police work, the Chicago report stated, compacts are "too bouncy," fail to hold the road properly at high speeds and tend to slip on curves at high speed.

"These difficulties are par­ticularly apparent in pursuit driving," Rupprecht said. "The maximum speed of these ve­hicles and the acceleration time is not comparable to the stand­ard auto. The lightness of the auto creates difficulties on icy streets and in the snow. As a result, the compact is less ac­ceptable from the safety stand­point."

In addition, Rupprecht said, the compacts are difficult to see in traffic and several acci­dents resulted.

The under-the-hood space of the compacts also was criti­cized in the Chicago report.

Installation of sirens and alternators became an "exces­sively time-consuming" opera­tion. On certain makes of com­pacts a portion of the grille as­sembly had to be removed be­fore the siren could be in­stalled. Mechanics responsible for preventive maintenance and minor repairs required more time to service the com­pact vehicles, the report said, due to limited working space and the placement of engine parts at hard-to-reach points.

Another objection cited by Rupprecht was that certain po­lice department units could not use a compact because of the lack of trunk space. Photo­graphic equipment, heavy weapons and similar types of equipment will not fit into the trunk.

"The department is now of the opinion that the apparent economies in the cost of op­erating the compact cars are greatly offset by those factors which render the compact ve­hicle somewhat less desirable for use in general police work," Rupprecht said.

Pittsburgh dropped com­pacts after a three-year study. The reasons were much the same as in Chicago.

"We tried compacts and con­cluded that while they are fine for ordinary driving and use, they don't fill the needs of the police," said Leo Gill, Pitts­burgh automotive director.

Gill said other city depart­ments will continue to use com­pacts.