Photo: City of Cambridge | Tesmanian

The Menlo Park, California Police Department received its first Tesla Model Ys, which will become its patrol electric vehicles. Tesla's compact SUVs have been chosen among several other brands.

The Menlo Park Police Department in California has received three Tesla Model Ys, reports KCBS Radio (via Drive Tesla). The cars will be part of a pilot program to test them as patrol cars. There are already volunteer police officers to test them. The process is part of the city's initiative to have a 100% electric fleet by 2030.

“We want to lead the charge, we know this is important for us,” Menlo Park Police Chief Dave Norris told KCBS Radio.

The cars need to be retrofitted with police equipment according to the requirements. Norris said the cars need ballistic protection to cover cops if necessary during a firefight. In vehicles with an internal combustion engine, the engine is a kind of shield that can protect.

“We need to bring these vehicles and get them ballistic shielding so that there's a level of protection that we know that we can tactically get behind that vehicle in a certain way,” he said.

There were no problems finding volunteers for the first round of the Model Y testing. They were patrolmen from the Norris' department. One of them is an officer, Sgt. Tim Bracket, who drives a Tesla Model 3 for personal use and enjoys it. Another volunteer, Officer Tony Mendoza, is very excited to try out the Model Y. “It's basically like a free lease program and I don't have to pay anything,” he said.

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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