Police Truck

• {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}

{{for|the law-enforcement vehicle|police truck}}

{{more citations needed|date=May 2010}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Police Truck

| cover = Police_Truck.png

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Dead Kennedys

| album =

| A-side = Holiday in Cambodia

| released = May 1980

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Hardcore punk, surf punk

| length = 2:24

| label =

• Cherry Red
• Alternative Tentacles

| writer =

• Jello Biafra
• East Bay Ray

| producer = Dead Kennedys

| prev_title = California Über Alles

| prev_year = 1979

| title = Holiday in Cambodia

| title2 = Police Truck

| next_title = Kill the Poor

| next_year = 1980

}}

"Police Truck" is a song by the American punk rock band Dead Kennedys. It was originally released in May 1980 as the B-side of the "Holiday in Cambodia" single and later released in June 1987 as the opening track on the band's compilation album Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.

The song is a satirical attack on the actions of two police officers and takes a first-person view from the authorities themselves.{{cite book|last=AV Club|title=Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists|year=2009|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=198}} It was inspired by an incident that occurred in Oakland in the late 1970s.{{cite AV media |url-status = live |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/GCQ9IwrhwJY |archive-date = 2021-12-11| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQ9IwrhwJY&list=PL636ABE10C3CCC992&index=85&t=0s |title = What Would Jello Do? Part 78: What Happens When The Government Riots? (Part 2) |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} It also functions more generally as an attack on police corruption.{{cite book|last=Ruggles|first=Brock|title=Not So Quiet on the Western Front: Punk Politics During the Conservative Ascendancy in the United States, 1980--2000|year=2008}} p164

"Police Truck" was one of the Kennedys' early popular songs. The song is built around a surf rock beat (similar to ones heard in the early instrumental surf singles such as the Chantays' "Pipeline"), and highlighted by East Bay Ray's echoed guitar leads and the descending chorus "ride, ride, how we ride." "Police Truck", like many of the band's songs, serves as an example of the Dead Kennedys' ability to portray a disturbing scenario through humorous lyrics.