Authorities in the US are becoming increasingly reliant on truck- and SUV-based police cars. The once-proud Crown Victoria-derived Police Interceptor has been sidelined by more versatile Ford Explorers and Chevrolet Tahoes. But one thing that these bigger and heavier vehicles struggle with is straight-line performance. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore with the police version of the Ford F-150.

In recent tests performed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and the Michigan State Police (MSP), the latest F-150 Police Responder outperformed all other law-enforcement vehicles in 60mph (97km/h) and 100mph (161km/h) sprints, and posted the fastest quarter-mile time. Such trials were crucial as a lot of hot pursuits in the US are on multilane highways where every ounce of performance counts.

The F-150 Police Responder can reach 60mph in just 5.4 seconds—0.4 second faster than any of the test vehicles. A speed of 100mph is dispatched in just 13.1 seconds, which is quicker than the runner-up by 0.8 second. At the drag strip, the truck clocked an impressive 14.4 seconds at the quarter mile, beating its next competitor by 0.4 second. The press release did not mention what police-car model came close to the F-150’s times. But looking at the fleets of the LASD and the MSP, that vehicle is likely the Hemi-powered Dodge Charger Pursuit.

The performance of the F-150 Police Responder is down to its specially tuned 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 making 678Nm of torque. With automatic four-wheel drive and a high-tech transfer case, Ford claims that its police truck can keep up with any fugitive on and off the road. The test results could make the vehicle the standard law-enforcement ride across North America.