While our cars say something about our personality, they are also tools we use to get a job done. One of those jobs is police work, and sometimes the police cars can be just as unique as our own personalities and the jobs they need to do. Here's a list of over 30 different police cars from around the world, with everything from exotic sports cars, small mini cars, huge SUV's off road vehicles, luxury sedans, buses and trailers. Chances are if it's on the road there's probably a police force using it.
| Exotics & Sports Cars |
Trucks & SUV's |
Small & Mini |
Strange and Odd |
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| Modern |
Luxury |
Busses & RV |
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As long as people have "a need for speed" so will the police. Let's be honest seeing a Lamborghini, Porsche, Jaguar or Alpha Romeo with a police paint job and flashing lights is pretty sexy and powerful. Even American sports cars like the Viper, Corvette, or Mustang take on a whole new role when they are the long and fast arm of the law.
If sports cars showcase the power of a police cruiser, these small and hybrid cars are at the other end of the spectrum. In some cases a mini cooper or smart car makes sense, they can maneuver through crowds or narrow streets where a normal size car couldn't. That said it's going to pretty hard to convince anyone that you are the "tough guy" or "bad cop" when you exit your Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Hybrid Prius or electric golf cart.
Remember the opening sequence of the Flintstones where Fred foot pedal's his car down the road ... the Glasgow Museum of Transport has a foot pedal police car. For when you really need to go off-road Switzerland has a Toyota Landcruiser with caterpillar tracks for driving through snow. Working crowd control how about a police truck outfitted with two water cannons and plow on its bumper.
Luxury cars are another class of vehicle we don't normally associate with police cars, but nobody told the police in Humberside Police in England who have a few Lexus IS-F models, or the Bulgarians who have a Mercedes SLK-200 ready to serve and protect.
In some rural locations around the world police need a 4 wheel drive off road vehicle, and for the police who patrol the miles of beaches in places like California an SUV is the only way to get around. When you roll on the scene with a Hummer H2, you're definitely sending a message about who's in charge. For those officers who get stuck driving minivans, and station wagons, I hope you guys are carrying around equipment and specialized gear and not groceries for the station house, or police chief.
While the police force in most cities are usually pretty conservative, every so often they'll come up with a color scheme that's more Fast and the Furious less Officer Friday. Here are two examples of some pretty adventurous paint jobs.
Lastly there are times when the police need to move a lot of people or equipment to a location. Enter the police bus ready to drop of officers at any spot you need. Need a large mounted police for crowd control The Orlando Police Force has a huge trailer for it's mounted unit. The police force in many big cities like NY have specialized RV's packed with communication equipment that act as mobile command center's ready for any job.
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