Well, hey, if Ford stopped making them there would be less of a need for these employees to have jobs
Ford faces internal pressure to end production of police-spec vehicles
A group of Ford employees has reportedly asked company executives to rethink its role in supplying vehicles to law enforcement organizations, making it the first large automotive manufacturer known to be facing internal pressure to change its relationship with American police departments.
The letter, which tipsters revealed to Jalopnik, was reportedly written by a group of employees (approximately 100, per the Detroit Free Press) who are concerned about Ford’s cozy relationship with U.S. law enforcement agencies. It comes in the wake of a message delivered to company employees in early June calling for employees to come forward with suggestions for addressing racial and social injustice. Ford employees have also reportedly raised similar concerns in virtual town halls. (snip)
Ford supplies the overwhelming majority of police-spec vehicles to American agencies at virtually every level of government. Hackett has reportedly said that Ford executives have no plans to change that. The company has also stressed that The Ford Foundation, which contributes to the Black Lives Matter movement, is not affiliated with the company, despite some recent reports to the contrary. Its philanthropic arm is the Ford Motor Company Fund.
Ford has approximately 190,000 employees. Sounds like these roughly 100 need to find a new company to work for, or, make themselves so high ranking that they can make these changes. If Ford doesn’t make them, they’re just handing all that money over to a competitor. GM would jump at the chance, as would Nissan (Pathfinder). Even Toyota might be interested (probably based on the 4Runner).
From the Detroit Free Press cited above
“Other employees have since signed onto the letter (though it’s unclear how many) and they want the company to take some kind of action by July 15,” according to Jalopnik, an automotive and transportation news website that first reported the issue. “Our resources can and should be diverted to other forms of first response and public safety,†the employees wrote.
Heck, if the signing employees don’t like this, then they should resign in protest. Oh, right, they won’t give up their cushy union jobs. Usually, it would not be far off base to wonder if Ford will give in, but, there is way too much money at stake to listen to a bunch of whiners whining.
The Freep has the response from Ford, which includes
It’s not controversial that the Ford Police Interceptor helps officers do their job. The issues plaguing police credibility have nothing to do with the vehicles they’re driving. In fact, as we imagine the future power of our connected vehicles, smarter Ford vehicles can be used to not only improve officers’ ability to protect and serve, but also provide data that can make police safer and more accountable. Just think, dating back to the Model T, Ford has more than 100 years in serving first responders and that leadership over the decades has been earned by co-developing our purpose-built vehicles and technologies with police and emergency agencies to make our vehicles the number one choice for agencies.
So, those employees can bugger off.
There is a word for employees who don’t want to make the products their company produces: Unemployed. They are free to go build Saturns or Subarus any time they want and never have to worry about their products being misused by police. They should also forfeit any assets in their retirement plan that is derived from those sources. I tend to doubt activist credibility when they don’t suffer any consequences for their beliefs.
“A group of 100”, LOL. Out of 190,000. I’ll bet the Ford UFO club is larger. I’ll bet the Ford “Elvis is still alive” club is larger.
But somehow this puny group of complainers makes the news.
You forgot to mention, Fiat-Chrysler’s Dodge Charger police vehicles. I’m sure FCA group would love to sell 50,000+ more police vehicles in the USA.