Speeders in Wake County, N.C., will have to go pretty fast if they want to outrun the police department’s latest interceptor — a Chevrolet Corvette Z06.

The Wake County police recently seized the Corvette from a drug dealer, said David Cooke, the county manager, according to the News & Observer. The car is being used to patrol Interstate 40.

The county sheriff, Donnie Harrison, however, was apparently less forthcoming with the local paper. “You’re not going to force me to talk about anything, you understand?” he was reported as saying. “I don’t sell papers.”

The department’s Corvette Z06 has done more than sell papers. It has fired up the Corvette and sports car forums. The first sightings were reported two weeks ago on Horsepower Junkies, where the idea of the Wake County police driving around in a pricey sports car sparked some debate.

“If it was a repo, I’m sure more officers in that dept. would love to have it sold if it would mean they might have a better chance in getting a small pay increase,” wrote one member.

Another member countered: “As long as Donnie Harrison does not have a problem with it, I don’t have a problem with it, if for no other reason than the fear it has generated in this thread — that car is paying for itself in sheer intimidation. Heck, they need one in every county in the state.”

With 505 horsepower and a top speed of 198 miles an hour, the Corvette Z06 is likely to be a huge step up from the traditional highway patrol car, though this isn’t the first high-performance machine to be employed by the police.

Last year we reported on a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 polizia car in Italy. More recently, the Humberside Police in England took delivery of a Lexus IS-F, which comes with more than 400 horsepower and has a top speed of 168 miles an hour.

At last year’s Woodward Dream Cruise, the Royal Oak Police Department in Michigan paraded a shiny orange Corvette ZR1. It generated quite a bit of publicity, but a call to the department on Wednesday revealed that the supercruiser was only used one time for the annual event and was not a permanent part of the police fleet.