Ford employees ask the company to stop making police cars

Employees inside Ford have asked the company’s leadership to stop making and selling police vehicles, according to Jalopnik. In response, Ford CEO Jim Hackett has told employees in a letter that he doesn’t think it’s “controversial that the Ford Police Interceptor helps officers do their job” and that Ford will continue the business.

The internal discussion, which Ford confirmed to The Verge, comes as the country is gripped by national movements for racial justice and against police brutality that were sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

Ford is far and away the leading automaker in the US when it comes to making and selling specially-designed vehicles for law enforcement, making up some two-thirds of the market. While it’s not a big source of the company’s annual revenue (which was $156 billion in 2019), Ford has long maintained that its overall lineup benefits from new technologies that get tested in the police vehicles (like hybrid electric drivetrains, for example).

The national protests, though, have inspired some Ford employees to rethink the company’s relationship with police. The issue has been brought up at recent town hall meetings, and now employees — including Black workers who are part of Ford’s African Ancestry Network (FAAN) employee resource group — have circulated a letter asking the company to “cease development, production, and sale of all custom police vehicles and products.”

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 15th, according to Jalopnik. “Our resources can and should be diverted to other forms of first response and public safety,” the employees wrote.

Source:-theverge

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