The Wheels of Justice

THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE Sept/Oct 2021

Sergeant James Post HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED I don’t know about you, but does today feel like it’s 2020 all over again? It’s like we’re living the movie, Groundhog Day – every day is déjà vu. COVID is still here; masks on/masks off – who the hell knows what to do as the CDC changes guidelines hourly. Cities are still burning, killers are still killing, looters are still looting, and the men and women in blue are still dying…


The Wheels of Justice January/February 2021

Sergeant James Post Protecting Officers: Ballistic Armor for Police Vehicles Advances in ballistic protection technology have made adding armor to law enforcement vehicles easier and more affordable, eliminating the need for “patrol cars” like the one shown below.  “Let’s be careful out there.” With these words, Sergeant Phil Esterhaus (played by Michael Conrad) closed the daily roll call which signaled a new episode of the beloved “Hill Street Blues,” a television show on NBC which aired from 1981 to 1987….


The Wheels of Justice November/December 2020

Sergeant James Post TRANSPORTATION 2021 P&SN presents its 23rd annual report on the latest technical advances in police vehicles, components and aftermarket equipment. The year 2020 has been one of the most significant in the last century for all Americans and not in a good way. The United States has been attacked with a virus which, in nine months as I write this, has infected 7.8 million Americans and killed over 215,000 souls (with similar results worldwide). This pandemic has…


The Wheels of Justice September/October 2020

Sergeant James Post SUMMER SPECIALS (AND IT AIN’T ICE CREAM) Nat King Cole once sang about “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” but who would have guessed that the new “lazy” is because of the never-ending COVID-19 lockdown and the new “hazy” is the tear gas and arson smoke hanging over almost every major American city? My job as a columnist for this magazine is to report on the latest LE vehicles and equipment and those of you who have followed…


The Wheels of Justice May/June 2020

Sergeant James Post CORONAVIRUS AND POLICE CARS If you had told me six months ago, or even 20 years ago (when I first started this column), that I would be writing about a global pandemic, I would have volunteered you for a room at the laughing academy. But, here I am in lockdown, staring out of my office window, feeling like my dogs watching for squirrels. A new enemy of all Americans (and the rest of the world) has landed…


The Wheels of Justice January/February 2020

Sergeant James Post WORKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND I grew up and ultimately spent my 25 year career in the Midwest, actually about 250 miles from the geographical center of the contiguous United States. Love it or hate it, the Midwest is one of those places in our great country which experiences the full four seasons – that’s the plus. The minus is that, if you are working outside in those four seasons in the Midwest, you can expect temperatures…


The Wheels of Justice November/December 2019

Sergeant James Post TRANSPORTATION 2020 Welcome to our transportation issue for 2020, our annual review of everything which is new in LE vehicles and equipment for the coming year as seen at national events like the IACP Conference, Police Security Expo, Police Fleet Expo, and the Michigan State Police (MSP) vehicle tests. You’ve often heard that “hindsight is 20/20,” well, we’re here to prove that foresight is also 20/20, as we give you a huge jump start on building your…


The Wheels of Justice September October 2019

Sergeant James Post BREAKING NEWS… Nat King Cole once sang about “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer” and that’s what it certainly has been here in the great USA, what with floods, heat waves, politics, and criminals running amuck. Here’s the latest breaking news from the world of police wheels which you may have missed…vehicles, accessories, alerts, and recalls. Police Vehicles Electrifying news: The Arkansas Democrat Gazette announced that Harley-Davidson® released news about their electric motorcycle which will be unveiled later…


The Wheels of Justice May June 2019

AMERICAN POLICE CAR HISTORY 101 Sergeant James Post Early spring is a great time of the year for those of us living in “four seasons” parts of America. Trees and flowers are blooming; birds are singing; and, to replace the boredom of winter, calls for service are increasing. But, spring sucks for Law Enforcement (LE) vehicle writers such as myself because the “Big Three” automakers, the motorcycle builders and the LE equipment manufacturers are either still designing, building or tweaking…


The Wheels of Justice January February 2019

Sergeant James Post STOPPING THE BAD GUYS IN THEIR TRACKS Ever since the wild, wild west (and earlier), the bad guys have run from the good guys. Since then, we’ve been trying to figure out how to stop them before they hurt innocent citizens or one of us. Of course, we’ve always had firearms available to us, but those have been pretty much ineffective at stopping moving objects from stagecoaches to Challenger Hellcats. Fleeing felons on horseback or Ninja crotch…