"Getting shot at is, unfortunately, one of the occupational hazards of being a police officer and modern law enforcement vehicles need to keep up with potential threats. In response to police feedback, Ford is now offering optional ballistic panels for its latest Police Interceptor sedan that provide protection against so-called armor-piercing rifle rounds."
I'm still working on "too hard to bail out in case of trouble..." If you are under small arms fire in an armored vehicle, the last thing you want to do is bail out. Are they worried about them driving into rivers and lakes and climbing out the windows? Driving lessons. For God's sake people, give 'em bullet proof glass...I mean .30 cal bullet proof.
30 Cal bullet resistant glass will not roll up and down. it would be around 1" or more thick. I imagine that the boys and girls are pretty happy to have even an armoured door! DR
Certainly not the reaction I expected when I did the OP. What I found interesting in the article I linked to was the fact that some police cruisers were already armored at level 3, and that the demand had risen to the point that it was no longer just a specialty business but now has a major manufacturer offering the service as a vehicle option.
Re some of the comments.
Neither I nor the article's author claim that AP ammo does not exist. The author pointed out that many rounds that are called AP are not AP but just hi velocity rifle rounds - hence, so called AP.
The armor used is ceramic armor - not kevlar. Beavis and Butthead at the local garage cannot cut a sheet to fit for $19.95 / door.
Glass to resist .308 category rounds is about 1.5" thick. Extensive body mods are necessary to fit it to a vehicle. The polycarbonate used is easily scratched by paper towels and is eaten by ammonia based glass cleaners (windex). It is also expensive to make since you have to make a curved surface with dissimilar materials (glass/poly) that is distortion free. This site:
shows a set of 6 pieces for a mid sized sedan lists for $13,995.00. Others have pointed out that it doesn't go up and down very well - something it needs to do many times each day.
Finally, Dude was a character in Rio Bravo played by Dean Martin. While I am more handsome than Dean and a better singer and lover, I am not Dude. Statements to the contrary are in error.
Our men in blue are at war with the criminal element. They deal with things on a daily basis that would make a lot of people cringe and run away. And they do this so that we don't have to. Unless you have walked in their shoes you really have no idea what it's like. I have been there done that. I have no problem with a little added armor to the cruisers. Any opportunity to help a police officer survive a nightmare situation is a plus in my book.
As it happens I know one person who was shot in a car by an assailant using a rifle. The round from the .30-30 hit high on the door panel and deflected down to hit the man in the leg breaking the femur and ultimately ending up putting him on permanent disability
As it happened he had seen a hit and run and instead of calling the sheriff he followed the car. The guy he followed spotted him and ran in his house to grab his Winchester 94. IIRC the shot was fired at about 80 yards or so.
Anyway I think that preferring armored windows that don't roll down to having armored doors is akin to not wearing a vest because you might get shot in the face
Having an armored door is valuable because during felony stops, you're using the door for cover. Helpful if it actually is cover. In that case it's more like a ballistic shield. You can get away without armoring most of the rest of the car for that reason. The glass would be nice, but it's not really feasible.
Too much armor and then your 0-60 time is measured in minutes instead of seconds, though, so complete up-armoring is almost certainly out of the question.
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