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Beat the Heat in Miami: New program allows drivers to drag race police cars

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3,282 views May 4, 2009

For $25 participants can race a police car on a fully licensed drag strip

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In Miami, the thrill of racing down a strip of asphalt with police sirens blaring behind you was an experience once reserved for escaping criminals or the extremely brave. In a recent development, however, this experience will soon be available to all, with police officers now giving motorists the chance to take them on in a monthly drag racing competition - held on a proper drag strip, rather than public roads.

The 'Beat the Heat' program allows anyone over the age of 18 to drag race a police car, as long as they pay the nominal $25 fee for the privilege. To make the experience as thrilling as possible, the officers will often turn on their sirens and kick up smoke for the crowd, and to let their competitors know that they, too, can let their hair down every once in a while.

The initiative was born with the intent of redirecting racers from the streets to proper racing venues, keeping them from harming themselves and other motorists on public roads. Street racing, popularized by Hollywood recently, has been on the rise for some time now, but with the monthly 'Beat the Heat' program in Florida now in place police officers are actually seeing drastic reductions in illegal racing, Reuters reports.

One police officer from the Davie Police Department stated that there used to be "races in the warehouse district almost every Friday and Saturday night", but that these have completely stopped since the introduction of the program.