TUCSON, Ariz. — After years of work, the Tucson Police Department's lowrider car is finally finished. They built it using an old patrol car that was no longer in service. And not a dime of taxpayer money has been spent making it come to fruition.
"The community asked for this. It was the south side community that was asking for a lowrider. It was a car show, and they were asking why we didn't have low rider. And that was a good question. And we said we're going to work at it, and here it is," said Sergeant William Corrales. "I think it's just some biases that people might have that lowriding is gang members, and that's not true. This is art. It's just like any other specialty vehicle."
Corrales has been one of the leads on the project for years, overseeing each step of the process, whether it's been through community donations, fundraisers, or people donating their time to work on the car.
He first showed us the hydraulics they installed two summers ago, letting the car jump up and down. Then there was all the body work the students at Sunnyside High School did, and now, the brand new sound system and custom paint job.
"It was an old police car, 20 years old, so there was a lot of wear and tear. So the students did a great job. Then having other city departments pitch in, like Carlos with the painting expertise to save us money, because we have somebody here already in the City of Tucson that could do the work. So that was very, very helpful," Corrales explained.
"This whole paint job took probably about roughly 200 hours," said Carlos Castro, who did all the custom paint work. "Nights and weekends, took me about five and a half months to complete it."
Castro is actually a mechanic for the city, working on the city's fleet of cars. He's also been painting lowriders and other cars in his own time for decades, so Tucson Police knew he'd be the perfect artist for the job.
"We built it for the community," he said. "It serves a good purpose for our community and the officers have something great to show for it.
Thanks to his talents, now the car really looks the part. The designs on the hood and the trunk are fully glittered, and they look incredible when the sun hits them.
"It's a great feeling, you know, I like them to represent, like I go to a show and I represent," Castro said. "I wanted TPD to show up and represent too."
Inside the car, you'll find new interiors, with screens specialized for police, along with the lowest stereo system on the block. The lowrider won't be used as a patrol car — there's no cage or even backseat. It's strictly a piece for community engagement. Now that it's finally finished, Tucson Police can confidently use the lowrider to bridge the gap and connect with our community in new ways.
"You might not be interested in the vehicle, but you might be interested in the artwork, or you might be interested in the sound system, just a conversation piece that we could have," Sergeant Corrales said.
He says the more comfortable you are with police, the less likely you are to commit crimes, and the more likely you are to report crimes. So engaging over something like this, will help lead to a safer tomorrow for our community.
"I think what's been really cool, is people that would not talk to us historically, like at car shows, just because of the vehicle, would come talk to us, and at the end of our conversation, we build a relationship. That's what we want, to build this communication, two-way communication, and build that bond," Corrales said.
The lowrider car recently made its big debut at the Tucson Juneteenth Festival, and now you'll be able to catch it at car shows, community events, parades, maybe even birthday parties if you're lucky.
You can get the heads up about where it'll be on the Tucson Police Department Facebook page.
