What Do Police Do With Massive Ford F-250 Pickup Trucks?

Are you gonna go my way?

​Like many San Franciscans, your humble narrator has often wondered just what need the San Francisco Police Department has for massive pickup trucks of the sort one would expect to see in a North Dakota rock quarry or Toby Keith video.

After noticing the truck in this snapshot merge onto I-280 South and cruise off to parts unknown -- laden down with luggage -- I made some calls to some police sources.

"Ah, the venerable Ford F-250," one replied fondly.

It turns out the police use the trucks for exactly what a pickup owner ought to be using his vehicle for: Hauling shit around.

"We use them for hauling barricades, equipment, cops going to demos, gear, training supplies, etc.," says one officer. Yet, hauling shit around isn't the only thing the F-250 is good for. "When we don't have enough radio cars for a shift sometimes I'll take it out," says an officer. "People make a weird face when they see it going Code 3 somewhere."

"Code 3," it turns out, is "lights and sirens." Code 1 is normal condition. And the unofficial Code 2 is "move fast but no lights."

But what the hell is going on here, with a bed full of suitcases? Our sources guessed it might be gear bags full of guns being transported to the police range, which is near the airport. Or, perhaps, these are "dummy" bags scented with drugs or explosives for the airport dog unit to train on.

Or, it may just be something else. Police Chief George Gascon "could be flying to L.A. and some lucky cop gets to lug his bags to the airport. Just Kidding."

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