The italian highway patrol is actually in posession of a Lamborghini Gallardo that serves in active duty as a patrol car. Here is a picture of it.
So why not an FZ5?
Looks like just a show car to promote that certain police department or somthing. Really doubt that they actually go on patrol with that thing. Cool nontheless. And so is this pack. Nice work man
They use the Gallardo to transport blood in emergencies and to reach the accident-site on highways as fast as possible - at 190mph .
And of course they track down speeders, which shouldn't be a problem for this car.
But yes, it's actually a Lambo-promotion car. The article about the police-gallardo was in every major car-magazine.
The Gallardo was pretty much a promotional tool for Lamborghini, yes. It's used regularly but Lambo obviously intended it as a marketing thing.
Whereas these are the real deal...
Essex Police aren't the only force to use Lancer Evolutions, and apparently other forces have reported that the running costs are huge. Obviously worth it though.
And just to prove that Lambos are used as promotional tools, the Italian police weren't the only ones. The Metropolitan Police were loaned a promotional Gallardo for one day in full police livery:
Probably not too useful in the middle of London though. So maybe a police FO8 skin isn't quite so far-fetched as it first seems.
Gallardo is more GTR than F08 though. Can you imagine what would happen if you tried to chase a full size and weight road car in an open wheeled formula car? You'd catch it quickly enough, but if they suddenly move over and squeeze you into the gutter, it's game over.
The police back home use Evo's. They also have a Nissan Skyline, and a few other sports cars. Though they are rarely used. They have some petrol/gas hybrides for "normal" call outs. Volvo S40's for round town chases, and they use the sports cars for high speed chases. Though if I remember they was planing on dropping most of the faster cars for two highly tuned S40's as it is cheaper. =/
Some Aust. police forces have used WRXs for city work, but most of the pursuit vehicles are 5.7L V8 Holden sedans - they had a couple of Monaro (coupe) pursuit things for a while too. Yes, those Need for Speed Monaro cop cars are real, and stupidly quick - until you need to slow for a corner