A Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat rated at 710 horsepower has arrived at the Texas Department of Public Safety. The agency’s North Texas Region recently received the black, five-seat SUV, which pairs a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 with blue and red police lights. Nobody connected to the agency has said whether it will ever join a pursuit.
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A 710-horsepower Durango in black with a bull bar
Carscoops writer Brad Anderson reported on Nov. 3 that the DPS North Texas Region took delivery of the vehicle, finished in black with ghosted graphics along the sides and a black bull bar up front. The engine is the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that gives the Durango SRT Hellcat its 710 horsepower, a figure Carscoops says tops the output of a standard Lamborghini Aventador. The vehicle seats five, so the cabin is the same family hauler that Dodge sells to civilians.
The department’s own Facebook post is the origin of the story, and Carscoops relays it without a purchase price, a delivery date or an acquisition record. A French write-up from L’Automobiliste, published Nov. 2, reaches the same gap: DPS stressed that the power serves public safety, but gave no details on how the vehicle is actually used, and did not say whether it was bought or seized. That outlet credits The Supercar Blog with the first report.
Patrol cruiser or showpiece: the question DPS has not answered
Anderson put the open question plainly, writing that it is unclear whether Texas authorities will use the Dodge on patrol or whether it will simply be a showpiece. That uncertainty sets the ceiling for the claim: the record supports a 710-horsepower Durango in the hands of a Texas state agency, not a confirmed pursuit vehicle with a chase to its name.
The gap between this SUV and a standard police Durango is large. According to L’Automobiliste, the Durango Pursuit package comes with either a 3.6-liter V6 making about 293 horsepower or a 5.7-liter V8 making about 360. Carscoops reported in 2025 that the 5.7-liter V8 is rated at 360 horsepower and that the V6 had become a government and fleet option, so the Hellcat roughly doubles the output of the V8 that police departments usually buy. The French outlet quotes a claimed 0-100 km/h time of about 3.5 seconds and a top speed near 290 km/h, figures from the manufacturer rather than from any DPS test.
The Challenger Hellcat Redeye already in the Texas fleet
Texas troopers have been here before. In 2022 the Harris County District Attorney’s Office awarded a seized 2020 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye to the Texas Highway Patrol through civil forfeiture, and The Drive reported that DPS puts its output at 1,080 horsepower against 797 stock. A DPS aircraft had spotted that car on westbound Interstate 10 on April 25, 2021, and Police1 added that the aircraft followed it until it ran out of fuel, after which the driver fled on foot and was later arrested. Police1 puts the car at about 160 mph when the aircraft found it, and The Drive reports the driver faced charges of felony evading and unlawfully carrying a weapon after a handgun was found in the passenger seat. The Challenger therefore entered the fleet with a documented street-racing history, which the Durango lacks in anything published so far.
L’Automobiliste says the Challenger has since served at community events, in traffic monitoring and in law enforcement, mostly around Houston. A showpiece role is therefore a real possibility for the Durango too, though the Challenger came from a forfeiture and nothing published says the same about the SUV.
Dodge’s Durango Hellcat and the 17-state emissions hold
Carscoops traces the nameplate’s path: Dodge introduced the Durango SRT Hellcat for the 2021 model year, dropped it after roughly 12 months, and brought it back in 2023. In August 2025 Dodge announced the end of the naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V6, leaving the 5.7-liter and 6.4-liter Hemi V8s and the supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V8. The 6.4-liter and Hellcat models were barred for several months in the 17 states that follow California emissions rules, until Dodge updated the SUV to comply.
An earlier Carscoops report from November 2025 said orders opened that October in ten of those states, including Colorado, Maryland and Virginia, with California, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Washington and Vermont still pending at the time. The word of the expected approval came from a dealer guide reported by Mopar Insiders, and Carscoops did not say what changes Dodge made to meet the rules. Texas is not among the California-rule states, so the restriction never applied to a Texas agency buying one.
For now the only firm record is the DPS North Texas Region’s post and Carscoops’ Nov. 3 account of a black Durango SRT Hellcat with a bull bar and police lights. Whether it ever chases a suspect is the one question neither outlet could answer.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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