Just about every seasoned motorist has been there. Driving along, knowingly or unknowingly doing the wrong thing in the car, when a member of the blue and white brigade is spotted lurking somewhere on or near the road.

You feel your stomach sink, and then your worst fears are realised. You're about to be booked. That same car or motorcycle just passed has now burst into a chorus of red and blue lights that beam across your mirrors and cabin as it rushes up behind you. Busted, game over: it's now time to pull over and endure the torturous process of watching the uniformed officer walk up to your window for a nerve-wracking inquiry.

The corresponding scene from within the highway patrol car itself would look and feel perhaps just as chaotic to the initiated. But to a highway patrol officer, it's just another day.

"When I see an offence, I usually hit record on the audio and video, I narrate the offence that I've seen and when it's safe to do so I activate the warning lights and the sirens and then go from there," says Senior Constable Amy Di Ramio, from the NSW highway patrol division.

Senior Constable Amy Di Ramio with her FPV F6 Tyhoon highway patrol vehicle. Photo: Brendan Esposito.

"Some people 'fess up to me at times and ask: 'How did you see me?'. I tell them that I'm driving all day, I always scan the road, I monitor, I observe and I analyse. That's a big part of what we do, you're always busy."

During a personal tour of a regular highway patrol car with the NSW Police Force this week, officers talk Drive through the different technology fitted to every marked highway patrol car on the NSW fleet – a layout similar to most other highway patrol vehicles in the country.

There is plenty to absorb. A sea of different lights and buttons, a big computer terminal jutting out of the dashboard and a general air of spaceshipness about the interior – all inside a vehicle that starts out as a nondescript Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo or Holden Commodore SS.

Senior Constable Amy Di Ramio with her FPV F6 Tyhoon highway patrol vehicle. Photo: Brendan Esposito.

Fitted with all the necessary equipment, a fully functional highway patrol car is worth about $120,000 in NSW. Here is a rundown of what each is fitted with:

The cars

Apart from the obvious police decals, lights and aerials – or in the case of unmarked cars, just aerials – the most discernable difference between a designated highway patrol car and a regular Holden Commodore SS and Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo bought from the showroom is their brakes. Police highway vehicles in NSW are made to comply with strict braking tolerances that are not applicable to other states. As a result, the XR6 Turbo wears more powerful Brembo brakes, while the Commodore is fitted with a less obvious police braking pack.

Under the bonnet, neither car is changed from factory specification. The main prerequisite is that each car is fitted with an automatic transmission.

The means for the XR6 Turbo, outputs of 270kW and 530Nm from its potent 4.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder engine.

Most Commodores within the fleet are VE or VF Series I models, fitted with a 6.0-litre V8 producing 260kW and 517Nm. However, from this month, the police fleet will begin ordering the second-series VF Commodore, which features an uprated 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 producing 304kW and 570Nm.

Both cars, in stock standard trim, will perform a 0-100km/h time in the vicinity of 5 seconds, travelling onwards to speeds exceeding 200km/h. NSW Police generally turn over their highway patrol cars every three years or 90,000km.

Police occasionally use more powerful cars within their fleets, such as Senior Constable Di Ramio's FPV F6 Typhoon, a Falcon-based patrol car featuring higher 310kW and 565Nm outputs.

Radar

The feature most motorists are best familiar with: the radar or speed-catching device. Each highway vehicle is fitted with fixed and hand-held speed check devices (LIDAR and RADAR).

The standard fixed radar can be configured in two different modes: mobile mode, or when officers are on the move, and stationary mode. Police vehicles in NSW are capable of obtaining speeds of vehicles approaching from long distances.

"It will pick up cars from 600 metres away, and in some cases it will pick up further," says Highway Patrol Chief Inspector Mark Cook.

"It depends on size, it depends on speed, it depends on surroundings and it also comes down to the training of the officer and them being able to operate it."

Highway patrol officers do not rely on their vehicle's factory-fitted speedometer to record speed because of inaccuracies. Instead, each vehicle is fitted with a digital speedometer which sits atop the dashboard and conveys a readout which is calibrated from the car's differential.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system

Police vehicles in NSW are capable of reading up to six number plates in a second thanks to a high-tech number plate reader first introduced in 2013.

Three cameras mounted on the car's roof link to a computer running optical recognition software and a database of stolen, unregistered or suspect vehicles, which sounds an alarm every time it finds a match. The data is linked to a laptop computer and mobile data terminal fitted in each vehicle.

Video recording

Highway patrol cars are fitted with an extensive video recording system which films what's going on outside the vehicle's front and rear windows. The video system is integrated into an aftermarket rear-view mirror fitted to each car.

In-car video cameras ensure each road-user infringement is documented, and footage can be used as evidence in court if required. "As soon as you hit the lights, the video system begins recording," Senior Constable Di Ramio tells us of the car's on-board surveillance system. "It is on a continuous loop and backtracks 30 seconds from when first activated."

Radio communication equipment

Most law enforcement agencies in Australia, including the police, are increasingly encrypting their communication systems so that the public cannot listen in on conversations between officers. Most highway patrol cars are fitted with encrypted radios, along with a traditional UHF radio to liaise with truck drivers during traffic incidents.

Mobile data terminal

Along with tracking everything with their eyes and ears, highway patrol officers are assisted with an in-car data terminal which can search licence and car histories, along with locations. The terminal is operated like a normal computer, using police-specific software.

Random breath-testing equipment

Most motorists are familiar with the "count to 10" process during a roadside breath-test. The device used to record the level of alcohol content in someone's system is called an alcometer, and is a standard fitment in every highway patrol car.

Emergency equipment

Police are often first to the scene of big accidents, and as such their vehicles are equipped for most situations. In any ordinary vehicle you'll find traffic cones, A-frame safety triangles, a fire extinguisher and an extensive first-aid kit. There are also emergency lights and sirens, bullet proof vests, batons and torches.

Enforcement

Getting into highway patrol usually requires three years of general duty training, followed by specialist driver, electronics and legal training for applicants who successfully apply for a vacant position.

According to highway patrol Chief Inspector Mark Cook, the ultimate upshot of patrolling the road is to reduce the road toll.

"The end result is we are there to reduce road trauma," he says.

"Highway patrol is not limited to just looking for speeds or whether people are wearing seatbelts, we have heavy vehicles running around that might be defective with smooth tyres or overloaded or have their engine control modules adjusted to allow them to exceed 100km/h. There could be a car that's dangerously defective, there could be kids unrestrained – it's everything under the road rules."

Police employ varying measures of on-road enforcement depending on state or territory. Most use unmarked vehicles, some including utilities and other obscure vehicles, to keep motorists on their toes. But according to stakeholders, high visibility policing is deemed the most effective approach.

"It can be disappointing when you see the high speeds. Obviously if you have a highway car on a stretch of road, there are hundreds of cars coming through that could all be doing the right thing. We can't be everywhere at once," Chief Inspector Cook says.

"We don't have a lot of unmarked cars because we work on deterring people. It's all about having a presence on the road."

NSW Police are continually upping their presence on major arterial roads through an exercise known as Operation FreeFlow, in which patrol cars are scattered along different sections of the road to reduce speeds and improve traffic flow after an accident.

"Those cars are there for visibility but also to help with traffic flow. If there's an incident, that car goes there, clears it and keeps going," Inspector Cook says.

One of the big questions motorists ask police is the level of tolerance given to a speeding driver; or in more basic terms, "How fast can I go before you pull me over?" Inspector Cook answers this question firmly: "If you exceed the speed limit, you are committing an offence.

"Christmas is coming up and we want people to travel to their destinations safely. We want them to get there in one piece, and that's why we enforce these rules on the road."

The future police highway patrol car

Wholesale change is in store for the country's respective highway patrol fleets.

With Holden, Ford and Toyota to cease their Australian manufacturing operations over the coming 24 months, police fleets will eventually roll over into new vehicles, including highway patrol cars.

However, the change won't occur overnight, stakeholders say. Given the average fleet life of a highway patrol car is about three years, the different states and territories are expected to buy up in the last batch of locally produced Commodores and Falcons – taking the car's shelf life out to around 2020.

What materialises beyond that point remains a mystery, though most states and territories have begun testing several high-powered vehicles as alternatives.

Drive understands Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Lexus, Audi, Chrysler and BMW are among those manufacturers involved in preliminary testing. A V8 engine will likely remain a prerequisite for police highway patrol fleets, with consideration for the added weight and typical requirements of a duty vehicle.

Either way, the last line of Commodores and Falcons will end a long-running affiliation between the police and Australian-made vehicles – one which dates back to some of the most historic muscle cars ever built in this country.