A brand of car as trusty as the steeds that once became synonymous with the RCMP has finally faded from the Okanagan.
In August the West Kelowna RCMP said goodbye to their final Ford Crown Victoria, or Crown “Vic,” police car, according to a press release issued on Thursday.
Officially known as the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, the four-door sedan was manufactured from 1992 to 2011 and became the police car of choice from 1997 to 2013. It was widely used by police forces across Canada, in the United States and in Mexico, with the RCMP being no exception. At the time, they were a good fit for the RCMP for their durability, reliability and safety.
RCMP said the West Kelowna, Lake Country, Peachland and Kelowna RCMP detachments used the Crown Vic as the primary vehicle that officers drove for their daily duties and patrols. Due to weather conditions, the SUV was in the mix, but the Crown Vic ruled the fleet.
In September of 2011, production of the Crown Vic ended when the last one rolled off the assembly line. Police forces around North America now needed to phase them out and began looking at SUV options, which most officers drive today.
West Kelowna RCMP said they had one last Crown Vic in service and it was driven by Const. Sherri Lund until the end of August.
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“I loved driving the last Crown Vic in the Okanagan,” Lund, a West Kelowna RCMP school resource officer, said.
“My colleagues would always take time to come up and talk to me about their favourite Crown Vic memories, or talk about what a great car it is. Because I had been the primary driver of it here in West Kelowna, and my relationship with the schools, the students all knew it was me behind the wheel so I would often get a wave or a hello.”
Despite its age and hours on the road, Lund said it could still be active today.
“The vehicle is still in excellent shape and the engine would roar to life when I touched the gas pedal. The only problem with it was it couldn’t idle with the air conditioning on and maintain its engine temperature,” Lund said.
“I remember on a hot day this past June, I had left the vehicle in secure idle mode to keep my computer running and went into a high school for a visit. Minutes later the kids came running into the school office saying, ‘Your car is on fire, Const. Lund,’ I ran outside expecting to see flames, but it was just steam from the blown radiator.”
The significance of the Crown Vic to a police officer is one most people won’t understand. To most outside a police force, it just looks like an old car, but truly it’s a part of RCMP lore and will not be soon forgotten.