Police in the Czech Republic have come up with a creative way to expand their fleet of patrol cars, and it might have automotive buffs all over the world wondering if it's too late to apply for a job as a police officer pursuing stolen cars in the central European nation. The Czech national police recently released a statement that they have seized a 2011 Ferrari F 142-458 Italia supercar, estimated to be worth some $150,000, and have reappropriated it as a police car they say they're going to use to pursue stolen automobiles.
The cops got the car for a steal, so to speak, because they spent just about $12,500 repainting it (replacing its traditional Ferrari red with a silver paint job with blue and yellow police markings) and making other modifications to bring it in line with their patrol car fleet. In addition to being one of the more expensive police cars in the world, it's also one of the fastest, with a top speed of 202 miles per hour.
Col. Jiří Zlý is the department's head of traffic police, and he had this to say about the new uses the supercar will be put to in its second life:
"The vehicle will serve on a nationwide unit and we expect to deploy it against the most aggressive drivers of Czech roads. We can also use its potential to chase stolen vehicles that pass through our territory to neighboring countries. The range of tasks that the vehicle will perform is really wide."
Illegal street racing is said to be rampant within the Czech Republic, and this vehicle will allow Czech cops to keep pace with drivers in cars that their normal police cars have no hope against.
The press release also states that the Ferrari 458 in question is "not even the most valuable or rare vehicle that has been secured" by the department, which seized a purported almost 900 vehicles in the last year. Most of these vehicles are sold off at police auction, but evidently a luxury sports car like this was too enticing for the department to get rid of.
You can see why in the video below from the Czech police department itself showing off its new car:
