Police ice cream truck to patrol Boston's mean streets

 

  The Boston Police Department unveiled a new patrol vehicle that will help officers both fight crime and the summer heat–an ice cream truck.

According to WHDH, the new $89,000 truck, which is a refitted Ford Transit, is part of a community policing initiative called Operation Hoodsie Cup. Started in 2010, the program has distributed around 120,000 free Hoodsie Cups, an iconic New England ice cream treat made by the Hood company since 1947, to citizens throughout the city.

"If you had told me 30 years ago that the Boston Police Department would have an ice cream truck as part of its patrol force and my officers would be handing out Hoodsie Cups...I would've said you were crazy," PBD Commissioner William Evans told WHDH. "But, I absolutely love the new truck and everything this program represents. The goodwill it generates between my officers and our city's young people is undeniable and nothing short of remarkable. My only regret is that I wish we had started doing this 30 years ago."

Operation Hoodsie Cup is part of a growing trend of community based policing among the nation's police forces. They're not even the first to use ice cream. Police in Halifax, VA, recently began pulling people over for violating code 1.7.3.9, which makes it illegal to drive without an ice cream cone on a hot day. Introduced in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, community based policing is promoted by the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). Community based policing relies on more personal relationship between police and citizens to reduce crime and increase safety, and emphasizes proactive policing such as foot patrols, citizen involvement, increased officer accountability, and a decentralizing of police authority.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/03/police-ice-cream-truck-to-patrol-bostons-mean-streets/

Does My Car Need Synthetic Oil?

https://www.cars.com/articles/does-my-car-need-synthetic-oil-1420684417536/
By Tim Healey

If your car's owner's manual says it does, you do.
For many consumers, whether to spend extra money for synthetic oil for an oil change is a difficult question to answer.
Manufacturers of synthetic oil promise more miles and better performance when compared with conventional motor oil, but it comes at a higher cost — sometimes twice as much per oil change. Is it worth the extra money?
Typically, high-performance vehicles will be more likely to require synthetic oil, as will vehicles that have a turbocharged or supercharged engine. However, if your vehicle does not require synthetic oil, the choice is trickier - and there is no clear answer.
Synthetic oil generally resists breaking down for longer than conventional motor oil (typically 7,500 miles to 10,000 miles, sometimes up to 15,000 miles, as opposed to 3,000 miles to 7,500 miles for conventional oil). That makes the extra cost a wash, if you have half the number of oil changes, but each one costs you twice as much. Other touted benefits include cleaner engines, better flow in cold temperatures, better protection when it's hot outside and better performance with turbocharged engines.
There are also synthetic blends. As the name implies, these are blends of synthetic and conventional oils. They straddle a middle ground — they cost more than conventional oils but less than full synthetics, and are said to last longer than conventional oils but not quite as long as synthetics — but again, that's a hard number to pin down since manufacturers are vague with their claims. An independent testing lab we spoke with said that synthetics often didn't perform much better than conventional oils do.
Still, older engines may benefit from synthetics because it is less likely to form sludge.
If your car doesn't require synthetic oil you should perform a cost/benefit analysis, but that can be difficult to do due to vague claims made by manufacturers. There may be no reason to spend more on synthetic oil, except for peace of mind.

Read more at https://www.cars.com/articles/does-my-car-need-synthetic-oil-1420684417536/#LmeRVYY89CovEdUr.99