Merits Of SFPD, NYPD Patrol Cars Debated

Left: SFPD's burly Police Interceptor. Right: NYPD's tame Impala. (Photo credit: L - David Karp. R - uncredited, via SexPigeon.)

In the latest New York vs. San Francisco pissing contest, noted New York startup wunderkind David Karp fired the first shot taking our fair city's choice of police patrol vehicles, "the most busted looking police cars." We happen to enjoy the understated, no-nonsense style of SFPD's Crown Victorias (really, there's no greater joy in this city than zipping down Gough Street in a Police Interceptor-turned-Taxi Cab). Thankfully for us, SFist pal (and current San Franciscan living in exile in NYC) Sexpigeon verbalizes our problem with NYPD's "insecure mess of an automobile." Observe:

Cheap-looking racing stripes, bumbling typography, pointless mantras, its seal crammed into some ignoble taint between the door and the wheel well.

I expected one of two things. One was sophistication. A crisp, chilly livery that casts a hush as it passes. And how slowly it passes, a prowler, a unknowable force about to strike. The other was rough-and-tumble. Like a ’70s cigarette ad or a ’60s pulp novel. Car seats that are beer-sticky and an “N.Y.P.D.” whose letters are flat-sided and brawling. Cars that smell of city vice. Cars that creep around with a hey-fuck-you-buddy grimace.

The NYPD’s cars are not sophisticated and not rough-and-tumble. They are the saddest possible thing: dull, dim-witted, and in no way representative of their city

Sorry, New York, in the name of Karl Malden, we're calling this round for San Francisco.

[Davidslog]
[Sexpigeon]