Irvine PD acquires Tesla Cybertruck for ‘community engagement’

Despite the Anaheim Police Department’s expressed desire to be the first police agency with a Tesla Cybertruck, their neighbors in Irvine appear to have beaten them to the punch.

The Irvine Police Department on Wednesday night posted an image of a Cybertruck decked out with police lights along with the caption “coming soon to Irvine.”

Department spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp told KTLA that as of Thursday, the vehicle, which can cost more than $100,000 , is already “in our possession.”

“We’re currently planning out all the bells and whistles you’d imagine would be on a vehicle like that,” he said.

The electric vehicle is intended to be used for “community engagement” once it’s ready to go in a couple of months, Oldoerp said.

“We don’t anticipate that it will be out on patrol,” he said.

Oldoerp said he had “no details” as to how the department obtained a Cybertruck, recommending instead that a public records request be filed. The results of that records request were not immediately available.

Irvine’s announcement came days after the publication of an email showing that the Anaheim Police Department wanted “to be the first police agency to have a Cybertruck,” though APD officials say that request was made “in jest” to the company that helped outfit Tesla Model Ys for the department’s electric vehicle pilot program. A request for comment from that company’s fleet director was not immediately returned.

While Anaheim police may have been asking “in jest,” their Irvine counterparts made clear in the post to X, formerly Twitter, that their announcement is not, adding “#notkidding” to the caption.

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