Victoria Police is replacing its remaining Holden Colorado divisional utes – or ‘divvy van’ – with the Ford Ranger.
The police department says this month the latest-generation Ranger will begin replacing more than 250 utes currently in use across its fleet, including the old Colorado and previous-generation Ranger.
Every month for the next two years, 15 new Ford Ranger XLT Bi-Turbo models will be delivered to Victoria Police.
“These vehicles are the workhorses of Victoria Police’s fleet,” said Operations Support Division, Superintendent Andrew Miles.
The beefed up utes will be fitted with a steel bull bar – traditionally reserved for Victorian Police cars servicing the “country and urban fringe” regions – and an LED light bar which is intended to increase safety and reduce animal collisions.
The new Ford Ranger offers space for a larger prisoner pod than the outgoing Colorado and previous Ranger. This allows officers to store police kit bags and operational equipment in storage compartments within the pod.
Inside, the Ranger retains its 10.1-inch infotainment screen but gains new button connectivity for police duties and a radio.
The interior features a covered four-wheel drive dial, suggesting the vehicle could be either a 4×2 or full-time 4×4. We have reached out to Ford Australia to confirm and will update this article accordingly.
Victoria Police says its vehicles are retired after reaching 90,000km or three years in the service. It claims that in some regional areas, some police vehicles can travel more than 15,000km a month.
Kyneton is among the first police precincts to receive the new model, with Stawell expected to follow in the coming weeks.
Currently Victoria Police operates 233 Ford Ranger Supercab and 23 Holden Colorados across the state.
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