In South Africa some police officers get to cruise around in VW Golf GTis, others in BMW 3 Series. You may have seen the unmarked Lexus models, driven by the undercover ‘Ghost Squad’, if you’ve been stopped in the City of Cape Town. However, this Czech Police Ferrari 458 makes us want to join the police force.

Follow Double Apex on Facebook and Instagram, where we share more car content.

Buy now and take advantage of free delivery in South Africa on orders over R349.

Confiscated

The Czech Police Ferrari 458 was confiscated from criminals. Instead of selling the car or, worse still, sending it to the crusher, local authorities decided to convert it into a police car. 

The 458 was once red but has been repainted silver. It also features fluorescent yellow and blue stripes. In addition it has an LED light bar on its roof. Only specially trained officers will drive the high-performance model. They will it use to crack down on illegal road races and chasing stolen cars, among other things.

Read our driving review of the iconic Ferrari F40 by clicking this link.

Italian Thoroughbreds 

As a reminder, a 4,5-litre naturally aspirated V8 powers the 458. This engine produces 419 kW and is capable of revving to 9 000 r/min. Ferrari claimed the 458 could sprint from rest to 100 km/h in 3,4 second and flat out it could top 325 km/h.

The Czech Police Ferrari 458 isn’t the first Italian exotic to form part of a police fleet. Lamborghini has been giving the Italian Polizia use of super sportscars for over two decades. The most recent was the Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4. The Dubai police force also boasts several exotic machines in its fleet. Although, we suspect those are mostly for show as that country has a low crime rate.