Chrysler builds a 2013 Dodge Dart police car for Belvidere Illinois

This whole project began when Belvidere Police Chief Jan Noble came to the Chrysler Group with the desire to have a police car built at the Belvidere Assembly Plant to join their fleet of Dodge Charger Pursuit models currently in use. The company is all about showing off how their vehicles can be used in different ways so they jumped on the idea to produce a unique one-off patrol car for the Belvidere police forced based on the locally built Dodge Dart.

The Belvidere Assembly Plant began with what looks to be a 2013 Dodge Dart Limited (chrome grille, chrome door handles) in Bright White Clear Coat and added a ton of police use lighting including small LEDs nestled neatly in the fog light bezels, the side view mirrors and in the crosshair grille, an LED spot light mounted on the driver’s side a pillar and, of course, the LED light bar mounted on the roof. The Dart police car has also been clad in a traditional Belvidere police decal scheme complete with “Emergency 911” on the rear quarter panels. No information is provided on the drivetrain but considering that the turbocharged 1.4L MultiAir engine is currently the most efficient and most powerful engine available in the Dart line – I suspect that Belvidere went with that engine for this unique police car.

“The Belvidere Police Department wanted to drive what’s built in their town by their own citizens,” said Peter Grady, Vice President of Network Development & Fleet, Chrysler Group LLC. “This was a terrific opportunity to support the Belvidere police and continue to foster our longtime partnership with this city and region.”

The 2013 Dodge Dart Police Car made its grand debut today at a small ceremony including plant workers and local officials. After that, the Dart police car served as the escort vehicle for a convoy of Ram pickups filled full with food that was donated to provide for a better thanksgiving for those in need around the area of the Belvidere/Boone County Food Pantry. The Chrysler Group also purchased some 1,500 frozen turkeys to go with the tons of stuffing, potatoes and cranberry sauce (among other things) donated.

The 2013 Dodge Dart Police Car will serve as a full fledged cop car in Belvidere but it will be used predominantly for non-patrol and other ceremonial events. The officers of the Belvidere police force will provide feedback to the Chrysler Group as an effort to help the automaker determine whether the Dart could be marketed as a non-patrol vehicle to other police departments across the country. Grady went on to explain that roughly 20% of the police vehicles in duty right now are reserved for non-patrol uses so there could be a thriving market in a roomy yet efficient compact sedan for police use. The Dart Police car offers better than 40 miles per gallon on the highway and having driven more than a few non-patrol police cars in my day – I can attest that the Dart is no slouch in terms of performance so if an officer has to get somewhere in a hurry, the sporty compact cop car would be able to answer the call.