Sergeant Cam Mooney, stationed in the MalibuLost Hills area in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles, runs a fleet of four Geo Trakers for off-road law enforcement and rescue. Mooney and his fellow officers have a 180-square mile beat, 80 percent of which is uninhabited.

Officers use horse trails and beaches for roads, and issue some 4,500 citations annually to persons engaging in illegal activities in the park area. Regular on-highway patrol cars would bog down on sand, and are not able to negotiate narrow and winding horse trails. Trackers, on the other hand, handle this rough terrain nimbly.

Just Right for Mountainous Terrain

On the job for the past year, these sport/utilities are equipped with mud/snow flotation tires mounted on Centerline wheels, Warn electric winches, brush guards, and law enforcement paraphernalia. The vehicles are easily identified by their police lightbar, siren, black and white paint job and Sheriff's Department door decals.

"The may not be the fastest vehicles on the highway," says Mooney, "but they are the fastest way to get to the scene in this mountainous area, especially at night."

Driven only 5,000 miles annually, the Trackers are used on rough terrain, and so far the vehicles have held-up well. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department handles the maintenance of these vehicles and expects a service life of five to 10 years.