A Sacramento County Sheriff Dodge Charger is taking social media by storm this week, not for stepping into automobile chases or any sick jumps, however for exhibiting up just a little bit exterior their jurisdiction — over 5,500 miles away in Poland.
Two movies going round social media appeared to indicate a sheriff’s patrol automobile from Sacramento County, California cruising across the streets of Gniezno, Poland. Except for the European plates, the Dodge Charger patrol automobile appears to be like legit, a lot in order that CBS Information reached out to Sacramento County Sheriff’s to search out out simply how the hell one among its autos ended up in Europe. The division confirmed that the automobile isn’t from the fleet however surprisingly admitted that this isn’t the primary time one thing like this has occurred.
CBS13 took the video to sheriff’s spokesperson Sergeant Amar Gandhi who mentioned this isn’t the primary time they’ve seen this type of video. The catch: It’s not an official county automobile.
“We first caught wind of this, I imply, years again and seems to be a number of hobbyists in Europe that like to gather American vehicles and repaint them, refinish them with police and legislation enforcement type finishes on there,” Gandhi mentioned. “And, fortunately, we’ve turn into fairly common in just a few international locations.”
Europeans have a proud custom of making small pockets of American automobile tradition. Consider people in Finland’s rock-a-billy “Raggare” scene who favor outdated Detroit sizzling rods. The dedication is identical. House owners do them up with full police particulars which are so convincing, you’d suppose that sheriff’s departments within the U.S. have been sending officers over to patrol. Interest web sites on-line provide house owners with decals, stickers and symbols from departments from all around the U.S., together with the Los Angeles Police Division and the New York Police Division.
Digging round on-line, you’ll discover out this group is fairly giant in components of continental Europe and the UK A few of these house owners are so devoted they even go for obscure departments from components of the nation you most likely by no means knew existed. This Reddit publish from November 2024 exhibits a Dodge Charger police automobile in Europe sporting Greenwood, Mississippi Police Division decals. A information article from Florida in 2021 highlighted an English automobile fanatic residing in Scotland who drives a ninth-generation Chevy Impala police automobile performed as much as appear to be a police cruiser from Sarasota, Florida. Even way back to practically a decade in the past this was occurring. A video from 2015 exhibits somebody recognizing three Crown Victoria’s on the streets of London; one was performed as much as appear to be an NYPD cruiser and the opposite two have Texas State Trooper decals.
So what precisely makes these house owners select these random liveries? It appears it comes down to private desire, because the proprietor of the Sarasota Impala, Caleb Keogh, defined to Patch.com:
“I liked the colour scheme and the shade of blue getting used, and I assumed it was the right design to place my automobile into,” he mentioned. “That is how I adopted the Sarasota livery to my automobile, and whereas it’s not an ideal mirror picture (there are just a few variations to the well-trained eye) I’ve tried to copy the livery as finest as I can. Naturally, police departments don’t give out the graphic sizes, colours and patterns, so I wish to suppose it’s a great reproduction of what you might have and see in Sarasota, Florida.”
Keogh was additionally drawn to the small-town really feel of Sarasota.
“I spent a very long time looking for the right livery. Whereas there are departments who’re well-known, just like the New York police, who use the Impala, I actually needed one thing that may be distinctive and stand out,” he mentioned. “Sarasota PD was simply that, a sufficiently small division that folks from exterior America might not have heard about.”
As for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s, the division’s livery appears to be common with Europeans as nicely. Along with Poland, Sacramento County Sheriff Sergeant Amar Gandhi informed CBS that sheriff’s autos have been noticed in Germany, England and Iceland. Whereas doing this type of factor would land an American citizen in jail for making an attempt to impersonate a police officer, it’s not an issue for Europeans to do it. European hobbyists informed CBS that so long as they don’t activate the lights and sirens on the vehicles the autos are completely authorized. Gandhi even appeared to suggest that Sacramento County Sheriffs are flattered by it.
“They’re very inventive, and once more, we wish to see it. It’s not likely bothering us by any stretch. And once more, in case you’re viewing on the market, and also you see our automobile in some distinctive location. Please tell us. Tag us within the social media. We love seeing,” Gandhi informed CBS.
