Contrary to what you see on detective shows on TV, your hometown police department likely never engages in high-speed pursuits and follows a strict policy to avoid them. Regular traffic enforcement, posting at construction sites, responding to dispatches?these are the banalities of everyday police work that don’t require a high-performance cruiser. They’re something a Nissan Altima can handle.
That’s the purpose behind this upfitted Altima, which has absolutely no performance ratings from the Michigan State Police Precision Driving Unit, the people who run factory pursuit-rated cars through a barrage of acceleration, top speed, braking, and handling tests. The Altima’s brakes may or may not fade after 10 stops. There are no auxiliary transmission coolers, larger alternators, special driver’s seats, or mechanical upgrades over the stock car. And that’s exactly how Nissan’s fleet department prefers it. According to Nissan fleet aftermarket engineering manager Gerry Appie, the Altima police car started as a skunkworks project after a police department in New Mexico prodded Nissan. Appie, who formerly worked on Dodge Intrepid, Magnum, and Charger police cars, sent the Altima’s CAD info to Setina Manufacturing of Olympia, Washington, and boom: an Altima on steelies with prisoner-transport-style rear seats was born. Setina already supplies window guards, push bars, partitions, firearm storage, cargo boxes, skid plates, and K-9 kits...