Seeing a 1981 Chevy Camaro in a law enforcement agency’s fleet is unusual enough. But it’s even weirder to learn the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office recently acquired their black and white muscle car. However, not a single cent from taxpayers was used but instead came from money forfeited after an investigation and court ruling.
Watch a Camaro ride the wall in a crazy spectator race crash.
What’s more, the complete conversion of the Camaro to an official police car, plus gas and other expenses, was all covered by those forfeited drug dealer funds, many of them with direct ties to the Mexican cartels.
The controversial move has split some in the community. Critics claim the forfeiture funds are public money and so should’ve been used to fund more effective law enforcement functions. Exactly what those would be wasn’t detailed in a brief ABC12 report on the issue.
Sheriff William Federspiel told WNEM he thinks the move is a great way to save taxpayers some money. After all, the muscle car doesn’t cost additional money, so he’s not driving a Dodge Charger or something else which does place a burden on the community.
On top of that, the sheriff says the black and white Camaro is a reminder to drug dealers in the area that his office is willing to take them down, that they’re not afraid of criminals. Sometimes that’s the only language criminals understand.
We think it’s cool seeing a classic muscle car used by a law enforcement agency today. Sure, we don’t expect it will ever be performing a PIT maneuver or transporting suspects to jail, but it’s neat to see such a machine still serving the community.
This isn’t the first time a Saginaw County sheriff has driven a muscle car forfeited by a drug dealer. Back in 2012 the sheriff decided to sell the Ford Mustang GT he had been using, which bore “Taken From A Drug Dealer” in lettering on the rocker panels.
Image via ABC12/YouTube
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