I was driving earlier today in San Bruno/South San Francisco, California, and happened to see this odd device mounted on the rear deck lid of a late model Chevrolet Impala. The Impala is a commonly used vehicle for police and government fleets, and this one did have the cheap wheels or wheel-covers one would associate with a police fleet vehicle, but lacked government license plates. It also lacked the type of outside spotlight you'd see on a police car, though it did have emergency lights mounted inside the rear window. The car had no markings or logo from any government agency.

As the second photo will show, there is another, smaller, square-shaped device mounted on the car's roof. The larger round device which had originally caught my attention had the name "Mitsubishi" on it.

Well that was fast! Thanx for the info!

In San Antonio... I've seen these (Smaller Version) on the back trunk of police cars... they are weird... you can only see them when the car is beside you... you can't see them if you are behind the police car.

Would love to know what they are for... I get they are for Satelite something.. but what information are they retrieving?

From a quick scan of the net i managed to retrieve this information.

SkyTerra's next generation integrated networks will offer a substantial value proposition to a number of vertical markets including the following:

Public Safety and Homeland Security — provides ubiquitous coverage, system redundancy, interoperability, priority access, push-to-talk and multi-media functionality to public safety personnel and the homeland security community who need these features most

Fleet Management — ubiquitous service offering more economical equipment and service pricing while providing enhanced functionality.

So maybe when the SHTF and the local mobile transmitters are shut down and communication is disrupted "they" can carry on with there mission?? IMO

Edit for picture of the round up transport !!




[edit on 14-3-2010 by foxhoundone]

Very interesting... thank you for that.

This is a UK FEMA camp still kept operational, The final destination for ???
You see everthings in place so be warned,......


[img]http://[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/deba78bcfc90.jpg[/img]

Were the lights in the rear window red, red/blue. or yellow.

It looks like a highway department supervisors. inspector. or engineers car.

The white dome is likely a industrial GPS unit.
The roof unit is a computer link unit to home base.

The highway department uses the car mounted GPS on management cars so they can drive around and get reading on anything from potholes to down signs.

Most utilities are using GPS systems on the vehicles now as they can dispatch there units to the right-place first time every time.

No more excuses for there employees not to get right on the job.
No more wondering around looking for the address.

Originally posted by foxhoundone
This is a UK FEMA camp still kept operational, The final destination for ???
You see everthings in place so be warned,......


[img]http://[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/deba78bcfc90.jpg[/img]

That looks like your average training base to me.

In the UK, such bases are used all over for all sorts of things. I've stayed in many in my time as an "Air Cadet" and I know the various other cadet organisations use such bases all over England frequently.

Edit - nt gd gramma m8s!11

[edit on 14-3-2010 by Dookzor]

Originally posted by ANNED
Were the lights in the rear window red, red/blue. or yellow.

Hard to tell without them being lit up. They were the new-fangled type that don't use tinted lenses, so if they're not lit, they appear to be clear plastic.

Originally posted by foxhoundone
And pardon me for this, But that car looks very powerful for a civic highway department engineers "works" transport..

Here in the UK civic transport/inspectors cars are usually claped out junk..

The current Chevrolet Impala is a front-wheel-drive car with a unibody chassis, so it's not the first choice for most police departments, who prefer the performance benefits of rear wheel drive and the ease with which a body-on-frame car can have its chassis straightened after a collision.

As for power, you get a choice of a 3.5 liter, flex-fuel V6 rated at 211HP or a 3.9 liter V6 rated at 230HP. Given that this is a fairly large, mid-sized sedan, I wouldn't expect rocket-ship acceleration. There are certainly more powerful cars available to fleet buyers, such as the Dodge Charger. Heck, even Ford's aging Crown Victoria Police Interceptor has more power than the Impala.