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NFS Police H.Q. Forums > Real Police Car Talk > About paint schemes, bland ones and the cool designs


Posted by: XJ220 May 7 2014, 05:35 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ May 4 2014, 01:09 PM)
Sorry Harry, but nope. tongue.png

You know that I like brown/beige sheriff cars, and also Tennessee state police cars, so I'm rather biased about this one, but I will always prefer even simplistic, but unique paint scheme, over blandest out of bland, represented nowadays by Iowa, (Utah... Washington...) and lately also Kansas and Illinois.

Anyway... Nice work on the car! laugh.png

Generally I agree with you, but Iowa and Utah have been looking the same for more than a decade now, I think they're alright.

Illinois on the other hand or Ohio... wacko.gif

Posted by: Dark One May 15 2014, 08:05 AM
Chris will hate me for this, but... Eh. laugh.png

What I meant was that Utah and Iowa have excessively simplistic designs. Based on decades old traditions (but so does Connecticut with their purposely unmarked fleet dry.png ) but not really living up to recent traffic safety standards.

And while Iowa seems to be more concerned over the matter, and at least have highly visible markings, especially to the rear, they still are winning in the category of most bland door decal design in the history of law enforcement, and having no preset fleet color is also not helping.

Ohio on the other hand is sticking to their winged wheel, which looks quite badass even decades later, though these safety stripes going across the side of their patrol cars are helpless towards the design of last generation Dodge Charger. tongue.png

Posted by: XJ220 May 15 2014, 02:12 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ May 15 2014, 06:05 PM)
[...]What I meant was that Utah and Iowa have excessively simplistic designs. Based on decades old traditions (but so does Connecticut with their purposely unmarked fleet dry.png ) but not really living up to recent traffic safety standards.

At least white offers more passive security than most other colors. I think here in Germany the prime-time for silver is over because even politicians realize that white offers better visibility.

QUOTE (Dark One @ May 15 2014, 06:05 PM)
And while Iowa seems to be more concerned over the matter, and at least have highly visible markings, especially to the rear, they still are winning in the category of most bland door decal design in the history of law enforcement, and having no preset fleet color is also not helping.

I have to admit that I kinda like IA 's plain and simple cruisers

QUOTE (Dark One @ May 15 2014, 06:05 PM)
Ohio on the other hand is sticking to their winged wheel, which looks quite badass even decades later, though these safety stripes going across the side of their patrol cars are helpless towards the design of last generation Dodge Charger. tongue.png

I still liked their cars much more when they were black like in the case of the Cherokees XJ gen or dark brown. At least it's not as big of a step backwards as it was in the case of CoSP who had the most awesome graphics ever a few years ago and now look like VA wannabes.

Posted by: Dark One May 16 2014, 02:03 AM
Well, that's the biggest issue. Utah at least keeps their entire fleet unified as white, and so does Washinton. Iowa and rest of beancounters have entire spectrum from white, through beige, gold, or bronze, to silver, gray, and charcoal ones. Some downright just use whatever damn color they gets their hands on. The more disappointing became that Illinois now follows the suit.

Colorado was really something special with their previous paint scheme, but at least being VA wannabe reqires more effort than weing AL wannabe, or joining bland brigade likes of Kansas.

Speaking of Kansas, I rather liked their "label" door decal from mid ninenties. it was Missouri wannabe, but pretty damn classy.

Posted by: XJ220 May 16 2014, 04:43 AM
Yeah I don't understand these undercover-colors for fully marked cruisers, either. I wonder what's better in the end – using just white cars with white usually being cheaper than other (metallic) colors or perhaps earning a bit more money when selling old cars because they are not white?

Still, CoSP is such a big step backwards... the one responsible should be ashamed sad.png

Kansas... you're talking about when they had the huge STATE TROOPER lettering on the doors? Looks a bit cheap to me nowadays but what they currently have isn't too great, either. You must like Nebraska SP, then biggrin.png

Posted by: Dark One May 17 2014, 07:27 AM
This thread really may not be the right place to discuss this, but like it can be helped... tongue.png

What I meant was the Missouri-like "etiquette" they used in mid-nineties before switching to the STATE TROOPER lettering.

But you was still right. What could have helped, would be moving the badge besides the wheelwell (initially the lettering even overlapped the badge, making it genuine logo) like the Nebraska example you mentioned.

And while that indeed might have been cheap way to mark their cruisers, it still is more profound, than merely having logo/shield/seal on the doors and small lettering on the quarter panels.

Posted by: XJ220 May 18 2014, 05:20 AM
Consider this new thread a Birthday gift biggrin.png

So you mean this wide decal thing? Pictures of it are rare at the Police Car Web Site ^^ In my opinion that looks like an advertisement, just by its shape it could be stuck to a beer bottle without looking out of place biggrin.png

Your idea of taking the design that followed and move the badge to the front sounds good to me. The initial overlapping way looked okay, but when they moved things a bit it was all too crowded making the new design at least technically better while losing individuality. Though it seems like their cruisers were never that uniform, anyway.

Posted by: Paul Spain May 19 2014, 01:08 PM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ May 7 2014, 01:35 PM)
QUOTE (Dark One @ May 4 2014, 01:09 PM)
Sorry Harry, but nope. tongue.png

You know that I like brown/beige sheriff cars, and also Tennessee state police cars, so I'm rather biased about this one, but I will always prefer even simplistic, but unique paint scheme, over blandest out of bland, represented nowadays by Iowa, (Utah... Washington...) and lately also Kansas and Illinois.

Anyway... Nice work on the car! laugh.png

Generally I agree with you, but Iowa and Utah have been looking the same for more than a decade now, I think they're alright.

Illinois on the other hand or Ohio... wacko.gif

Illinois is bringing the stripe back..But slowly..I think for now most cars will get the retro look and they still have 75 Caprices uneqquiped because the they don't have a on site eqquiper like on CHiPs sad.png I think all agencies need this) This could have been done sooner but they been crying about funding.. mad.png

user posted image

Posted by: XJ220 May 20 2014, 05:13 AM
And it just says 'TROOPER' on the fenders? 'STATE TROOPER' would cost too much, I guess biggrin.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 20 2014, 04:01 PM
It already says "State Police" on the doors, so "State Trooper" isn't really necessary.

It doesn't look like those markings are reflective, and they are also quite small, so it's not exactly the most visible police car. Also, the lack of a light bar makes it even less visible. At least it's white, which is the most visible colour.

Still, it could be worse. New Zealand police cars in the 70s were grey with the word "Police" on the doors and a single red rotating light on the roof. In the 80s they were white with no less than two rotating blue lights and a light-up police sign between them. The word "Police" was blue, but they rarely had the police badge. Still, the sirens were the best.
Check out this PDF: http://www.ipa.org.nz/pdfs/Early_NZ_Police_Motor_Vehicles.pdf
Compare the cars with your local ones from the same era. Which ones were blander?

At least all of them had a single uniform colour. It makes no sense at all to have police cars in different colours. What was Iowa thinking? At least they have high-visibility markings.

Posted by: Paul Spain May 20 2014, 11:12 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 21 2014, 12:01 AM)
It already says "State Police" on the doors, so "State Trooper" isn't really necessary.

It doesn't look like those markings are reflective, and they are also quite small, so it's not exactly the most visible police car.  Also, the lack of a light bar makes it even less visible.  At least it's white, which is the most visible colour.

Still, it could be worse.  New Zealand police cars in the 70s were grey with the word "Police" on the doors and a single red rotating light on the roof.  In the 80s they were white with no less than two rotating blue lights and a light-up police sign between them.  The word "Police" was blue, but they rarely had the police badge.  Still, the sirens were the best.
Check out this PDF: http://www.ipa.org.nz/pdfs/Early_NZ_Police_Motor_Vehicles.pdf
Compare the cars with your local ones from the same era.  Which ones were blander?

At least all of them had a single uniform colour.  It makes no sense at all to have police cars in different colours.  What was Iowa thinking?  At least they have high-visibility markings.

It would seem alot of the NZ early police vehicles (Model Ts etc.) resemble alot of America's early days..Most was black since the model T only came in that at first and had simply gold paint POLICE on the doors or P.D. they was even too cheap to put city names on them and sirens wasn't allowed at first cause they scared people laugh.png but since the early ones was for Sergeant and above and reserved mainly for investigations or adminstrative duties most didn't even have red spotlights on the windshield (which was all you could get then) Motorcycles had sirens and either red spotlights or flashing red spotlights and these was the main patrol vehicle for the Illinois State Police, cars being used to transport prisoners.

Posted by: XJ220 May 21 2014, 05:43 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 21 2014, 02:01 AM)
It already says "State Police" on the doors, so "State Trooper" isn't really necessary.

Now that you say it... but it still looks rather unusual to me. But then again it's like that in VA, too, just with a better design. Why not place the single word directly above the wheel or at least more to the front?

And about who had the most bland cars in the 70's and 80's... over here we had white cars by then with green movable parts, but in many cases not more than a single beacon on the roof. Though the highway patrol had more sometimes, red/white striped rear and additional rear facing lights to warn incoming traffic, at least in the 80's as can be seen http://polizeiautos.de/show_zusatzbild.php?id=1574 and http://polizeiautos.de/show_zusatzbild.php?id=775.

Posted by: Dark One May 21 2014, 06:00 AM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ May 18 2014, 08:20 AM)
Consider this new thread a Birthday gift biggrin.png

So you mean this wide decal thing? Pictures of it are rare at the Police Car Web Site ^^ In my opinion that looks like an advertisement, just by its shape it could be stuck to a beer bottle without looking out of place biggrin.png

Thanks, it works best this way. happy.png

Indeed, I meant the liqueur etiquette from first half of nineties. It might seem unusual, but as I said, for state police department it was rather classy looking one.

QUOTE
Your idea of taking the design that followed and move the badge to the front sounds good to me. The initial overlapping way looked okay, but when they moved things a bit it was all too crowded making the new design at least technically better while losing individuality. Though it seems like their cruisers were never that uniform, anyway.

It would've worked like magic for Chargers in Kansas, but ironically enough, with Taurus PI and Caprice as cars of their choice, the very solution became impossible to keep for Illinois State Police. Still give them no excuse to buy silver, gray, and bronze cars for their fleet, while reverting their design back to early seventies.

And that one at least had bigass STATE POLICE lettering on the trunklid. That stripe with black lettering they have now looks pathetic in comparison.

QUOTE (Paul Spain @ May 19 2014, 04:08 PM)
Illinois is bringing the stripe back..But slowly..I think for now most cars will get the retro look and they still have 75 Caprices uneqquiped because the they don't have a on site eqquiper like on CHiPs sad.png I think all agencies need this) This could have been done sooner but they been crying about funding.. mad.png

Okay, on that one it looks like what they used in early nineties, but back then, they had the stripe sealed before the taillights, and tipped to the front. New one is simply cut by the fender, and front wheelwell.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 21 2014, 04:24 PM
Sirens scared people? Things have definitely changed over the past century. In Europe they used bells to begin with, but NZ used air sirens from the beginning. It was a blend of British and European vehicles with American-style liveries and sirens. That applied to ambulances and the Fire Brigade as well as police. The sirens here in the 80s were quite unique, although a bit similar to the Tesla sirens used in the Eastern Bloc during the same era. I have recorded three versions of the NZ siren.

The German police cars of the 80s weren't too bad; it has always been one of my favourite liveries, actually. New Zealand must have followed the German example when it came to lights in the 70s and 80s. The Ministry of Transport (traffic police) cars were different; black and white with red roof lights. Later on they changed to blue and red. We don't have any slicktops here.

Somewhere around here, there is an 80s MoT Falcon in its original livery (but without lights) that has been converted into a drag-racing car. The larger wheels at the back are just about the only things that give it away (well, maybe the parachute). I might have a picture of it somewhere.

Posted by: Chief May 21 2014, 06:27 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 20 2014, 08:01 PM)
It already says "State Police" on the doors, so "State Trooper" isn't really necessary.

Welcome to Rhode Island. Where they put "State Police" on the car so many times, they couldn't afford to paint the bumpers the same color as the rest of the car.

user posted image

Posted by: XJ220 May 22 2014, 05:46 AM
And I thought you were around long enough to know the policecarwebsite does not support hotlinking their images tongue.png

Here's the image:
http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/Nilltz/media/ri148_pcws_rwcar4_zpsc3cfdc10.jpg.html

At least on photos the difference seems to be rather negligible, though I don't know how apparent the difference is in reality. At least the CVPI is the only car with such difference, the rest is uniformly grey and has been so forever, it seems?

@ Max/BrabusAMG: The only country I have seen so far which does use slicktops like the USA and Canada is Luxembourg:
http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/Nilltz/media/luxembourg_passat_w8_4motion_zps074c5f7e.jpg.html

@ Martin:
What ISP are doing now with these Caprices reminds me of a badly done add-on for NFS biggrin.png Plus this implementation really shows the scheme's age. Wonder whether they're unwilling or unable to come up with something that incorporates what's known into something modern?

Posted by: Chief May 22 2014, 06:12 PM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ May 22 2014, 09:46 AM)
And I thought you were around long enough to know the policecarwebsite does not support hotlinking their images tongue.png

You think that's bad?... it's been so long since i used that site i actually had to think of what the name of it was for a minute mellow.png

Posted by: XJ220 May 23 2014, 06:26 AM
Just surprising wink.png Aaand it's nice to see you posting again.

So, have you seen their CVPIs in real-life? I wonder how noticeable the different shades of grey/silver really are.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 23 2014, 04:06 PM
I've always been a fan of Luxembourg's orange bumpers.

The NZ Police have decided to try out buying cars in civilian colours (red and orange). The problem is, they blend in with the rest of the traffic, so even though they're fully marked, they are less visible than the white ones, which is ironic because they decided to use those colours to make police cars more visible.

By the way, I don't really see a difference between the grey bumpers and the rest of the body on the Rhode Island cars, but I do think that putting "State Police" on the side three times is overkill.

Posted by: Chief May 23 2014, 05:42 PM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ May 23 2014, 10:26 AM)
So, have you seen their CVPIs in real-life? I wonder how noticeable the different shades of grey/silver really are.

Yeah. It was no hard job to tell the difference. The 98-03 or so vics were the worst, everything since then is well... still not right. But at least i think they tried to get it right.

It's always a lighter gray then everything else, but there was the odd time you'd run into one that was actually darker grey then the rest of the car... I never understood why they could never match the paint on the CV's. They would of been better off just putting black bumpers on, it probably would of looked better.

Posted by: XJ220 May 24 2014, 05:34 AM
Perhaps they thought the Ford silver could be reminiscent of the old chrome bumpers? biggrin.png

QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 24 2014, 02:06 AM)
I've always been a fan of Luxembourg's orange bumpers.

Yup, very good way of making traffic police more visible.

QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 24 2014, 02:06 AM)
The NZ Police have decided to try out buying cars in civilian colours (red and orange).  The problem is, they blend in with the rest of the traffic, so even though they're fully marked, they are less visible than the white ones, which is ironic because they decided to use those colours to make police cars more visible.

Do they still blend in when they turn their lights on?

QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 24 2014, 02:06 AM)
By the way, I don't really see a difference between the grey bumpers and the rest of the body on the Rhode Island cars, but I do think that putting "State Police" on the side three times is overkill.

It took me a moment to see it, too, but you can't always rely on simple photographies to judge colors. Maybe they could have painted the bumpers the same color as the rest of the car had they decided to not put STATE POLICE on it so many times...

Posted by: Dark One May 28 2014, 10:14 AM
To expand on the topic from earlier post. History of emergency vehicles in Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia was also an interesting one.

At one hand, there is evidence of private ambulances equipped by emergency lights and siren as far as in late twenties, and fire brigades equipped with firetrucks usually had them marked in some way, and using either bell and opaque reflector with red flame sign, or front facing red light and hi-lo siren.
On the other hand, law enforcement, be it police corps, gendarmerie, or later national security, were using unmarked cars without any emergency warning whatsoever. Using only horn, or whistle, to get through the traffic.

Which remained as such until mid fifties, when first cars got marked in red-trimmed white stripe on blue base (also called plums or milkmen, depending on base color of choice).
But besides getting rotary siren and somehow distinguishing paint scheme (https://flic.kr/p/bMVUhk, so there were even gray, cyan, navy and black patrol cars through the years), these cars were usually equipped only with single or pair of yellow fog lights, and while there were attempts to use front facing blue lights of some sort, it was mostly local effort to keep up with ambulances and firetrucks, rather than official regulation.

And once again, it wasn't until mid sixties, when the lettering switched from HLÍDKA VB (Patrol of Public Security) to VEŘEJNÁ BEZPEČNOST, and patrol cars started getting equipped with Polish https://flic.kr/p/fyfHpY.
By late sixties, fire brigades also switched from red beacons (or front facing red lights), to blue, and red was only used as absolute right of way, by government officials and their escort.

Finally, in mid seventies, through experimental "Sussex" paint scheme, which was using reflective red-trimmed yellow stripe on white cars, we got to well known yellow/white patrol cars with big VB lettering.
These then managed to get used well into nineties in Slovakia, just with lettering switched to POLÍCIA, while Police of the Czech Republic was more thorough with their redesign, and subsequently repainted even their older cars all-white with green stripe. Sole exception being special forces URN, which inherited bunch of Tatra 613 cruisers painted in aforementioned experimental design.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 28 2014, 05:04 PM
A very interesting history of Czech Police Cars.

QUOTE
Do they still blend in when they turn their lights on?


The red and blue LEDs definitely stand out, because the newer Commodore police cars here (including the white ones) have red and blue lights in the grille, the front windscreen, the rear windscreen and even in the rear light cluster, as well as flashing headlights and a light bar on the roof, so there's no chance of missing them. You would not be able to put that many lights in a car for High Stakes, because the red and blue lights alone would take up 12 dummies! If you wanted accurate headlights, you would need 4 just for them, which means that the car would have no brake or reverse lights.

Even so, the actual colour of the cars doesn't stand out. The whole idea of the new colours was to make highway patrol cars (without lights on) more visible on the road, to encourage road safety. Even the traffic officers who drive the cars don't like the colours. To be honest, the red and orange civilian body colours actually clash with the blue and yellow Battenburg markings.
user posted image

They should have used bright yellow, but the St John Ambulance have recently decided to phase out their white ambulances and replace them with brand new yellow ones, due to the success that yellow ambulances have had in Europe.

Maybe the police should follow Luxembourg's example and use white cars with bright orange bumpers.

Here are pictures of older cars like I mentioned earlier:
http://www.111emergency.co.nz/N-R/PolicePatrols.htm
Look for Vintage Police and MoT vehicles.

I wonder if the NZ Fire Service will decide to change to brighter colours as well. Currently, fire engines here are red (obviously) with a dark blue stripe at the bottom. I have plenty of my own pictures, but I can't insert them, so here's a picture from www.111emergency.co.nz:

http://www.111emergency.co.nz/FIRE/ArapawaSI30-39/FED947h.JPG

On second thought, maybe they don't need new colours.

PS: Why can't I upload pictures from my computer?

Posted by: XJ220 May 29 2014, 06:09 AM
@ Martin:

I think fire/EMS are always a bit more advanced when it comes to adapting warning technologies. Police are probably closer to the state which results in a more uniform appearance and slow adaption of changes.
But since LED lights have become standard I think most emergency cars over here have sufficient lighting. They just need to find a better solution to the proper placement of sirens in squad cars. EU regulation caused the sirens to move from the roof to the engine bay and depending on the brand they're too quiet and sound, well... bad. Even though unmarked cars have okay sirens so I don't know what the problem is here – another example of bad/slow adaption.

And of the schemes you described I like the white with green stripe the best including what CZ has now. Really looked more like an authority that way.

@Max:

Uploads are disabled for basic members. I could change that, but have no idea how much space we have available. I will look into it and recommend using an external host like Photobucket in the meantime.

The red and orange cars you posted look as if they were standing at the yard of a car dealer to advertise its inventory. I'd say with more... officially looking markings red and orange could be very flashy colors in traffic. They have red cars with the usual markings in London for super-VIP escorts and I think they look rather serious – just a but too fire brigade-ish. Or just go back to white ^^

The engines are too colorful in my opinion. Replacing the blue with red and deciding on a single shade of yellow would make them look much better. From the German city Herne:
user posted image

Interesting emergency number, by the way. You have 111, in the EU it's 112.

Posted by: XJ220 May 29 2014, 12:14 PM
Evil double-post by your favorite admin wink.png

@ Martin & Max: You have now been moved to the Senior Members group and should be able to upload files.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 29 2014, 04:45 PM
Danke Schön!

I agree that the Police could have at least changed the markings to make the cars look better.

Our fire engines are definitely colourful nowadays. If you think that blue is not the most appropriate colour for fire appliances (I think that), then take a look at the Hazmat Trucks here. The entire rear end is dark blue!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHgTcZE3Ku0

Fire appliances here used to look like this:

http://www.111emergency.co.nz/FIRE/AppliancesN/NJ5704/NJ5704c.JPG

Those oldtimers have since been retro-fitted with reflective stripes. They keep the original sirens until they break. The 80s sirens are my absolute favourite sirens. It's probably because I grew up with them. They sound similar to the Tesla sirens used in the Eastern Bloc.

I think that fire engines here should probably be painted bright orange, like some engines in Germany. Then the red lights would stand out a bit more and the vehicle would be more visible as well.

The emergency number 111 is unique to NZ. Australia has 000 (Triple Zero). 111 is 10 years older than 911. From what I have read, 111 seems to be the second oldest emergency number in the world (the oldest is 999). It was introduced in 1958 and gradually spread across the country. Nelson (the nearest city to me) got it in 1960, the year that the first television came to New Zealand.

Posted by: XJ220 May 30 2014, 05:41 AM
Gern geschehen wink.png

I am not really against blue as a color for FD vehicles. Just the combination of red, yellow and blue looks like they wanted to show off all primary colors. Mainly red and blue accents can look pretty neat in my opinion. http://www.florian-augsburg.de/galerie/details.php?image_id=884 is an example from the German city of Augsburg.

By the way, German fire vehicles are never orange. It's basically the same color the vehicles from Luxembourg use for their bumpers, a type of red which absorbs much less light than usual making it quite striking. The problem with it is, at least when used as a paint, that it bleaches out rather quickly in bright sunlight which would make it not such a great choice for NZ or AUS amongst others. I do not know whether this is still a problem with the foils that are being used nowadays instead of paint.

Aaand to get back to the police – what about riot vehicles? http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8195 is what the older water cannons look like with the new paint scheme. I have actually little idea what such vehicles look like elsewhere except for a few European countries (Belgium and France mainly) and Brazil.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 1 2014, 02:31 PM
Thank you, my favorite evil admin. laugh.png

Speaking of fire trucks... I won't exaggerate, if I say that our regional fire brigade still have best firetrucks in the entire country. biggrin.png

http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/86015/Ostrava_-_HZS_-_HLF is latest Mercedes-Benz Econic from regional capital, Ostrava (they are also now testing updated paint scheme).
http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/89024/Hlucin_-_HZS_-_TLF got assigned across the county, including fire station in our town.
And http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/109978/Praha_-_HZS_-_FW_04_-_TLF, for comparison, is new toy of firefighters in Prague (too bad that they can no longer have that bronze logo on their new trucks).

Just take look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngSoJaDtrYo, how they stand out, and (try to) notice the Fabia command car (which, for reason unknown, got marked in standard red). It's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn8p0DOec_Q.

As for the weathered down red, I think that early cars seems to share that fate, unless repainted, but as shown by the second video, even our older Tatra trucks are as bright as ever.



I also updated my previous post with some images, to better illustrate the case. Though that Skoda STW is rather questionable replica, considering the inaccurate marking. Blue patrol cars usually had the lettering only over the front doors, as shown on the group picture.

And speaking of the early days of SNB, before getting Skoda 1101 https://flic.kr/p/f15teD, their cars of choice were also Tatra 57A (leftovers from gendarmerie) and https://flic.kr/p/ecHyWo which were made for German army during the war, and also briefly in late fourties.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 2 2014, 05:17 AM
Ostrava really has a nice fleet. Is there an airport nearby? Several of their vehicles look like crash trucks.

I read a report on a Spanish fire department some years ago and they had the bright red, too, and their vehicles became white after a few years so it really depends on the amount of sun they're exposed to. Plus the more recent foliation seems to be immune.

The earliest squad cars look like the Czech version of the VW Type 82. And perhaps 181. I don't think German police ever used these? The oldest cars I can think of have to be VW Bugs.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 2 2014, 10:53 AM
You mean http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/74604/Ostrava_-_HZS_-_TLF? These are not crash trucks. Just "pond" trucks based on army Tatra 815-7, that are meant to replace venerable Tatra 148, and partially also older 815 fire trucks. (In case of Ostrava though, just like http://youtu.be/L47FZub5RL4 is replacing no longer produced http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/37080/Ostrava_-_HZS_-_HLF trucks, http://youtu.be/oBgNvxtDjOI configuration will replace old http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/102901/Ostrava-Zabreh_-_SDH_-_TLF trucks of volunteer fire brigades).

But there indeed is international airport near Ostrava, and they also have http://youtu.be/AQX4V1UuJ-c!

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 2 2014, 01:34 PM
Those new Tatra 815-7s remind me of the http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/25113099, hence my question. Pretty nice vehicles it seems. In Germany 6x6 trucks are rather scarce, http://www.wfv-sachsen-anhalt.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/TLF-24-48.jpg is a nice example in use in a colliery.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 2 2014, 04:46 PM
That SIMBA is twice as long and twice as wide. laugh.png

Well, http://youtu.be/JVDtNvxkEqc. tongue.png Still good enough excuse for me to post the video. cool.png

But it always did remind me of http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/113397/Jackson_-_Jackson_Hole_Airport_-_FLF_-_Crash_1 HEMTT based trucks. And maybe little bit of http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/52072/Sao_Vicente_-_Sao_Pedro_Airport_-_FLF.
I'm not aware though, of anybody using it as crash tender, yet. But I already saw it as snorkel truck similar to http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/103681/Praha-Kbely_-_Vojensky_hasicsky_zachranny_sbor_-_Gelenkmast.

4x4 is most common here, with all these MANs and Renaults replacing old Liaz and Avia trucks, but 148 and 815 ponds were 6x6 by default, and are revered and worshipped, because Tatra climbs walls.

Usually volunteer brigades also prefer 4x4 with double cab, for its 5+1 configuration and wide range of equipment it can carry, but double cab 6x6 are http://youtu.be/ticOg9NwhVU. Some rural volunteer brigades went as far as acquiring http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/17271/Lysa_nad_Labem_-_SDH_-_GTLF chassis from army, to get http://youtu.be/B3sRjefk14g.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 3 2014, 05:27 AM
Be it Oshkosh or SIMBA, the general shape of the 815-7 is quite similar IMO.

I think it's not really uncommon for Fire Brigades and similar organizations to acquire military vehicles, you can find examples in Germany, too. http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/14860/Florian_Duisburg_0166-02/photo/217232 or http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/36006/Heros_Kiel_3646, for instance. The same base vehicle has been used for the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/45674/Florian_Flughafen_PAD_07_0629-01.

And have you seen the newer http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/103420/Florian_RWE_Hambach_TLF4000_01 already? Huge thing, the big brother of the Unimog.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 3 2014, 08:43 AM
It's not uncommon for professional fire brigade to have such http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/110824/Ostrava_-_HZS_-_Bergefahrzeug.

These http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/113733/Frydek-Mistek_-_HZS_-_WLF and lorry trucks from my previous post (which are closest to army 815-7) got assigned to regional fire brigades across the country, and also to http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/104818/Hlucin_-_Zachranny_utvar_HZS_-_Brueckenbau-Fahrzeug in Hlučín (akin to your THW).

But for example that http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/115752/Karolinka_-_JSDH_-_TLF is 400 000 € worth, one of a kind. Belonging to rural volunteer corps. I can count such examples on my fingers.



As for the Zetros. There is one used by company fire brigade in northern Bohemia, but it's rarity.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 4 2014, 05:30 AM
The Zetros is rare over here as well. Probably too specialized to be of use everywhere.

And the vehicles that get assigned to units in the whole country in Germany are quite lame in comparison to yours ^^
There are http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/45389/Florian_Berlin_SW_2000_Tr_B-8480, http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/34856/Florian_Berlin_LKW_Dekon-P_B-8110 which carry equipment for decontamination of people and http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/15734/Florian_Berlin_ABC-ErkKW_B-8054 filled with equipment for measuring NBC contamination.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 5 2014, 03:14 AM
I'd say that we surely got lucky with the Tatra craze lately. After all, putting aside that Tatra is one of the oldest car brands worldwide, and their cars are rightfully legendary, Kopřivnice is local interest, so supporting them should be obvious.

Unfortunately, reality is still somewhere else. dry.png

As I already mentioned, Prague is trying Volvo now (maybe because last order of Mercedes-Benz trucks was critized to the hell and back, but that was more the fault of bodywork). At the "globe management" tongue.png in Zlín, http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/110823/Uherske_Hradiste_-_HZS_-_TLF is the only option. Brno on the other hand seems to prefer http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/107833/Brno_-_HZS_-_CPS_-_TLF trucks. And MAN was also brand of choice for last countrywide fleet regeneration from few years back. Ostrava already got Econic as their primary vehicle of choice, and rest of the region gets either Atego, or one of the last Terrnos. Both 810 and 158 trucks are still too new to play any role in the effort.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 5 2014, 05:19 AM
Over here it's a nationwide mix of MAN, Mercedes and Iveco. Stuttgart seems to be unsure as to whether replace the old http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/43103/Florian_Stuttgart_0444-03_aD_in_dieser_Funktion with the new http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/2113/Florian_Stuttgart_9344-01 or with http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/103544/Florian_Stuttgart_9246-01, though they bought more of the latter if I'm not mistaken. Nürnberg stays with http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/90422/Florian_Nuernberg_0440-01 and Hannover with http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/2462/Florian_Hannover_2010. And the hometown of Magirus of course uses http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/85443/Florian_Ulm_1342.

The only 'exotics' I can think of are http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/916/Florian_Karlsruhe_0146-02 http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/101208/Florian_Karlsruhe_0133-01 which look pretty cool and make for a nice change from the usual brands.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 5 2014, 04:41 PM
Wow, fire engines in Europe make NZ's look really boring.

Over here our newer appliances are Ivecos (smaller tenders) and Scanias (larger tenders and turntable ladders). Hazmat trucks are DAF LFs (older ones were Ivecos) and sometimes we even have Mercedes-Benz Econics, but they're only for turntable ladders and snorkels. The newest one I've ever seen is a 2013 Iveco stationed in my home town.

http://www.111emergency.co.nz/FIRE/AppliancesG/GRQ324/GRQ324b.JPG

Before the mid-90s, nearly every fire engine here was either Japanese or built here by Mills-Tui. The Mills-Tui cabs were very good, according to one of the local firefighters. That Mitsubishi in my last post is a Mills-Tui. They're easily recognisable because they all look exactly the same. They were built on Mitsubishi, Dennis, Volvo or Hino chassis. The Scanias started coming in the late 80s.

The rural fire engines here aren't that flash in comparison to yours. They're all Japanese here, and they're either utes or small tenders like the ones in Australia. They should bring the Land Rovers back.

I will agree that the engines in the Czech Republic are probably the coolest in the world. If only we had those here...

That bright red colour on those Czech engines is what I had in mind for New Zealand, but if it fades easily then it's probably not a good choice. NZ is a very sunny country, and there is a hole in the ozone layer directly above us.

By the way, That riot vehicle looks more like it belongs with the Technisches Hilfswerk judging by its colour. It looks good, though.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 6 2014, 07:02 PM
When it comes to fire trucks in Czech Republic, we definitely benefit from being EU member, because not so long ago it were only large towns and villages with good connections, to get any new equipment, and mainstay of the fire corps were http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/10223/Praha_-_HZS_-_FW_05_-_TLF_aD and http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/26769/Praha_-_DP_-_HZS_-_CPS_Hostivar_-_HLF_aD. Not to mention that rural areas are to this day relying on http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/103064/Kamenny_Ujezdec_-_SDH_-_GTLF and http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/34701/Kamenny_Ujezdec_-_SDH_-_TLF thoroughly repaired over the years (or used until they fell apart).

http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/110688/Ticha_-_SDH_-_TSF-W is also still a common sight, though usually in combination with larger firetrucks, or used by small rural stations.

Luckily we are big town, with almost 80k population, so besides large station of regional fire brigade in downtown, our volunteer corps (City) have http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/111829/Nymburk_-_SDH_-_TLF just like the one depicted (only with older red/blue strobe lightbar), similar Renault is also in neighbouring village (once part of the town), where it replaced their Liaz in 2007, and our other station (Životice) have Tatra 815, which replaced old Avia in 2010. On the other hand, another neighbouring village still have old Skoda 706 and also vintage Tatra 805.

As for the firetrucks painted in luminous red, that's specific for regional fire brigade of Moravian Silesia, which is very autonomous, and never really let General Directorate to talk into their matters.

I won't ever forget how bland firetrucks became, once the city and county structure changed into the regional one. These weird times, when it was not even allowed to have HASIČI writen on the trucks, and lightbar of the choice was almost violet ELVY VOAZ! Since then, Fire and Rescue Corps got new general director, who seems to be reasonable guy, but the damage was already done, and as result, half of the fleet of Prague Metropolitan Fire Brigade is left only with http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/110822/Praha_-_HZS_-_FW_03_-_GTLF wide decal on the front, and tiny lettering on the doors, while second half is still retaining shield of the metropolitan corps, as reminiscence of the http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number23185.asp.

Some volunteer fire brigades are also still not afraid to put on their vehicle http://youtu.be/U0Uc5R8KDY4, or come up with http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/111725/Hradek_nad_Nisou_-_SDH_-_DL, though it's not specified in any way in the regulations.

But I think that more important is functional marking, that stands out in traffic, unambiguously identifies the vehicle, and as well represents the company in public, over standard marking, that abides to the regulations, but is nevertheless based on paint scheme from seventies, and good only to not get obstructed by inspections.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 8 2014, 05:07 PM
We don't have a very good selection of European manufacturers here. We definitely don't have any Eastern trucks like Tatra, Kamaz or GAZ. Oddly, the only Eastern-made cars that we ever got here were from the Soviet Union. That's because the New Zealand Dairy Board (now called Fonterra) exported milk and butter to the USSR (NZ makes up 30% of the world's dairy industry), but instead of being paid in money, the Dairy Board got paid in cars and tractors. We got Nivas, 2103s and 2107s. I've seen quite a few of those. Also, for some reason, FSO once decided to export 150 Polonez hatchbacks to NZ. I've never seen one, though.

I think NZ has quite a close relationship with Japan. It's also closer, which helps a bit. We get loads of used imports from Japan, because it's too expensive to maintain old cars there. Imports are very common here. We call them "Jap imports". They're so common that we even get used fire engines occasionally, like this one:

http://www.111emergency.co.nz/FIRE/Southern41-49/ANH419c.JPG

It even has the original siren!

By the way, a population of 80,000 is called a town in Europe? The town where I live has a population of 7,000. The nearest city has a population of 50,000, although it does have a cathedral.

The local fire brigade here want to replace its 30-year old tanker (its picture was attached to one of my earlier posts). They have bought a Scania 4-axle ex-Fonterra milk tanker, which carries probably ten times more water that the old Hino. However, bureaucracy is getting in the way a bit; they've had it for nearly a year and it hasn't even been re-painted!

Back to the subject of police cars, I found a picture from the official police website that shows the four police cars at the unveiling of the new colours.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 9 2014, 05:54 AM
I guess what is called a town and what a city depends on the country you're in. In legal terms, a population of 1000+ is necessary for a town in Germany. Unsure where cities start. But for me, a town requires a bit more than a thousand people, that's just a large village wink.png

That Isuzu has an interesting chassis with its two steering axles and a single rear axle. So far I only knew such a setup from the http://www.motorstown.com/37969-mercedes-benz-lp-333.html. And perhaps from wheeled tanks like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TPz_Fuchs.

Over here we have and had quite some eastern vehicles in official service due to the former GDR. http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=4136 is a repainted squad car and this is http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=552 is what they looked like originally. The fire brigades had a mixture of vehicles the GDR developed and produced itself as well as some from Czechoslovakia, like the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/904/Florian_Spreewald_0825-01_aD, http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/1781/Florian_Flugplatz_Magdeburg (which looks pretty badass IMO happy.png ...and actually dates from the time after the Soviet Union fell apart so it was produced in Czechia) and even something more specialized like http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/11628/Florian_Leipzig_xx71-01_aD.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 9 2014, 12:54 PM
Just a matter of speech. My hometown have 77k and is statutory city. District (county) seat have 57k and is statutory city too. Former land capital of Czech Silesia, Opava have 58k. Now, regional capital, Ostrava have 300k, and is third largest city in Czech Republic. Not to mention that we already lost 100K status that we had until the early nineties. We are called outskirts... tongue.png

Also that Isuzu reminds me one of these http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/34335/Tatenice_-_SDH_-_TLF military specials that I mentioned before (in this case based on semi-trailer tractor). Speaking of ex-army specials, right next to Rescue Corps in Hlučín and Zbiroh, we can't also forget about Railways Fire and Rescue Service, which also have interesting http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/15822/Praha_-_HZS_SZDC_-_RW in their fleet. And it's interesting that you mentioned the crane, because I ran into its image literally as you were typing down your post, while looking for http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number25988.asp exotique foxhound.




And as for new patrol cars, http://youtu.be/b5Jan3lJFNs are latest addition to our traffic police (highway patrol). This weekend I'm going to Ostrava for their police day, so I'll try to get some good photos of their new cars there, and it might be just as impressive, as three years ago, when they celebrated http://youtu.be/e5_2_fPvUDE (funny thing being, that I got just as good spot back then, so have something from "my" point of view wink.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 11 2014, 04:31 PM
From what I know, a town has to have a Cathedral before it becomes a city. Well, I think that's how it works here, anyway. 7,000 people isn't very small for a New Zealand town; Motueka is the third-largest centre in the Nelson-Tasman region, behind Richmond and Nelson.

It's interesting that Ostrava has their police day this weekend, because this Saturday is the National Police Open Day in NZ. I will try to go to it. The nearest participating station is in Nelson.
http://www.police.govt.nz/openday

Those Superb police cars are superb! They look very smart indeed. Maybe we'll get them here after Holden sadly shuts down sad.png

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 13 2014, 06:58 AM
Those Superbs really look nice, but their 45° coverage seems to be pretty weak? Not that highways contained that many intersections...

And the Austrians of course have to terrorize everyone with their Techno-TechnoDesign ^^

@ Max: I hope the world of today is sufficiently secularized to not make town/city status dependent on the presence of a certain type of church huh.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 18 2014, 02:54 PM
What do you mean by Austrian Techno-Design?

I think the requirements for city status probably have to do with population now that the world (and New Zealand in particular) is getting less and less religious. It was probably an English tradition for a city to have a cathedral. Nelson, Invercargill, Timaru, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, Hamilton and Auckland are all cities and they all have cathedrals. Christchurch doesn't really have one anymore; it was badly damaged in the earthquakes and can't be used. Although they did get a famous architect to make a temporary replacement cathedral out of cardboard.

The police Open Day was fantastic. The whole event was outside. They had the orange police car on display (it isn't the nicest colour) and they also had the booze bus and an ambulance and two fire engines on display. I got to try on the stab-proof vest and the hat, which was very cool. I also got a ride in a white Commodore Omega police car.

They also had a display for the Armed Offenders Squad and the riot police in a separate building. I took a photo of the riot gear they wore here in 1980. It doesn't look like much. Sorry for the bad quality; the camera doesn't take inside photos very well. I made it smaller so that it wouldn't be so bad.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 19 2014, 04:22 AM
Techno-Design is a German manufacturer of lightbars and sirens. Austrian police uses almost nothing else if I am not mistaken. And they have this very distinct old-school siren:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlrZJOkbKJw

That's why I called it Techno-TechnoDesign as it could be a techno-remix of usual hi-lo sirens wink.png

I may also add that Austria has one of the nicest police car designs in the European Union in my opinion. Simple and elegant at the same time.

------------------------------------------------------

So, what does it feel like wearing protective gear? Standard issue helmet and the vest 'Bristol' in its lowest level configuration which I know from my time in the German army didn't feel like much. The helmet just moved your head's center of mass upwards ^^

The 1980's gear is interesting. The neck tie is clearly helpful when facing thrown stones biggrin.png On the other hand the transparent shield looks pretty modern to me, so does the helmet.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 19 2014, 04:17 PM
I actually like the Austrian siren, but only if one car has it on. If several cars are using it at the same time like in that video, it gets annoying. I like their liveries too, although I think the earlier white cars were more visible. Pintsch-Bamag and Premier Hazard also make siren units with the Austrian tones.

The stab-proof vest was actually quite heavy. It weighs around 12kg. The policeman who helped me to put it on said that they are very hot in summer and wearing it makes getting in and out of a car very awkward. The hat fitted me fairly well. I have a pretend British police hat that I bought when I was 8 or 9 and it still doesn't fit me.

The Armed Offenders Squad has to wear over 40kg of military-style armour, a helmet and a black uniform!

Yes, the 1980s helmet and shield do look fairly modern. The tie might stop stones, but I think the coat might be for petrol bombs and beer bottles wink.png The riot police here still use equipment just like that. They wear a lot more body armour though. For some reason, I actually like the 80s gear more. Maybe it's the big blue coat. You probably can't see it very well in the photo, but the 1980 cop was holding a truncheon as well. The Red Squad and Blue Squad used that gear in the riots around the 1981 Springbok tour.

I found a video of a 1983 VH Commodore Police Car replica which uses an original 80s police siren. I have mentioned several times that this is my favourite siren ever. See what you think of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdVujagPdCM

As you can see, the livery doesn't look like much.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 21 2014, 05:59 AM
Just a side note:

you can use
CODE
[YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE]
tags to post a YT video. Just put in the video's id between the tags (the id is the last part of the URL, what follow after the equals).

I find the Austrian siren rather... entertaining happy.png I wonder whether the pause in between repetitions is good or bad. Good because it increases the 'contrast' of the volume which might make it easier to notice as opposed to normal hi-los which have a rather uniform noise level. On the other hand, this silence might reduce the reaction time of other drivers because they hear the approaching vehicle a tad later.

12 kg and it's just stab-proof? Sounds like chain armour. I can imagine wearing it in the summer being not too pleasant, though. Seems that for security you always have to trade in convenience.

What is the Armed Offenders Squad? A SWAT-style formation or a group for taking leading people during riots into custody? In Germany, such leaders are removed when demonstrations are starting to get aggressive because they are stinging others. It's like surgically reducing a group's potential for aggressive behaviour happy.png

So, what is the 1980 coat made of? If you say it protects against molotov cocktails, I guess it's not cotton (like I thought lol). Modern riot policemen look like knights in synthetic armour and I guess it's much better that way, I can imagine the coat to reduce one's ability to move quickly (unless you're The One wink.png).

The Commodore's 'livery' reminds me of old German traffic police cars which used to be plain white, too, like http://www.polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=6016.

The beacon/speaker combo it has is pretty huge, looks like it weighs a ton. Probably quite well visible for its age, though. I must admit though that I generally prefer electro-mechanical sirens, my favorite would have to be German 'Pressluft' (compressed air) followed by the Q-Siren.

Pressluft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T7EwfN_XDw

Q-Siren:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6iyNdkTprI

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 25 2014, 08:44 PM
I wondered how to post YouTube videos. Thanks for the info.

Should stab-proof vests be lighter? The bullet-proof vests weigh 21kg.
The Armed Offenders Squad is basically New Zealand's version of SWAT. The next step up is the Special Tactics Group, which is the anti-terror force.

The coat is probably wool (being from Sheep Country), which is fire-retardant. The helmet, shield and truncheon were pretty much the only other protection the officers had.

The Commodore would certainly be a bit more visible than the Opel Rekord in the picture. The roof equipment on the Commodore definitely looks too big for it, but they were also used on even smaller Ford Cortina 2.0 Ghias. The traffic cars here were black and white.

The pressluft is one of my favourite sirens too, along with all German hi-los.

Posted by: Dark One Jul 13 2014, 02:16 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jun 11 2014, 07:31 PM)
It's interesting that Ostrava has their police day this weekend, because this Saturday is the National Police Open Day in NZ.

We had these all across the country in the past month, so Ostrava just happened to have theirs in the middle of June.


QUOTE
Those Superb police cars are superb!  They look very smart indeed.  Maybe we'll get them here after Holden sadly shuts down sad.png

These are alright, I guess, but officer in charge of the brown one present on the display there, was actually disappointed from having to pass away his R36 Passat for sake of the Superb, because to his dismissal, Superb is limousine first and foremost, while R36 was true pursuit car, faster and also better equipped. It was nice to sit behind its steering wheel, nonetheless.

Buut, since I got extremely lazy to grab some photos from my cellphone, have instead some videos covering the most interesting events:




First one is combined operation of Czech and Slovak SWAT teams, second is demonstration of local fast response unit (analogous to http://youtu.be/lCeAfKR4vzo) equipped with tasers. It's also first time since URN Tatras, that I got to see any unit using their specific patch on patrol cars along with the unified markings. Usually these cars were marked just with small decal on the windshield, or on the passenger side of the lightbar.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 15 2014, 03:16 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jul 13 2014, 05:16 PM)
We had these all across the country in the past month, so Ostrava just happened to have theirs in the middle of June.

The Czech Republic must have had a similar arrangement to NZ. Except the open day was on the same day everywhere here.

The R36 would definitely be a better choice for the NZ Police. I hear that they're thinking of getting Korean cars (I've no idea why) after the Commodore goes. Hopefully they're talking about the Hyundai i45 (aka Sonata) and Veloster Turbo. However, I think a Commodore SV6 would be faster than an i45, which is basically a luxury car. I can't actually think of any new fast cars from Korea. A Veloster might be a bit impractical, since it has one door on the driver's side and two doors on the passenger's side.

The police here don't have local patches at all, since the New Zealand Police is the only police force.

The old riot coat seems to be fairly thick, but I think the latest gear is a bit more protective:

Posted by: Dark One Jul 16 2014, 11:04 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jul 15 2014, 06:16 PM)

The R36 would definitely be a better choice for the NZ Police.  I hear that they're thinking of getting Korean cars (I've no idea why) after the Commodore goes.  Hopefully they're talking about the Hyundai i45 (aka Sonata) and Veloster Turbo.  However, I think a Commodore SV6 would be faster than an i45, which is basically a luxury car.  I can't actually think of any new fast cars from Korea.  A Veloster might be a bit impractical, since it has one door on the driver's side and two doors on the passenger's side.

I don't understand that either. Won't Japan be next best option? And I thought that you guys will be just getting US made Caprice or Impala.

QUOTE
The police here don't have local patches at all, since the New Zealand Police is the only police force.

Police of the Czech Republic is also national force, but specialized units had their patches since ever, and few years ago it was decided, that even regular officers would wear local patches on right sleeve, to represent their region. Obviously, nowadays you still see only high ranking officers or ceremonial units wear these.




Also while looking into more exotique destinations, I have noticed that Georgian police have changed their appearance once again.

From http://youtu.be/fT9_Srcc4-E of http://youtu.be/8piJ-EQnddk, to more http://youtu.be/CtkD-m9uudo one, down to the badges.

And when you compare their old https://flic.kr/p/oDGTt patrol cars from post-soviet times, to more recent https://flic.kr/p/akS3eE, and https://flic.kr/p/kiSjJ2, they surely http://youtu.be/O_eJdCFpZxs.

Posted by: XJ220 Jul 17 2014, 08:10 AM
Georgia is definitely serious about being independent from Russia blink.gif

Posted by: Dark One Jul 18 2014, 01:49 PM
I can't really blame them. Their intention to join EU and NATO was apparent ever since Rose Revolution (all these EU flags everywhere, despite them just signing the association treaty this year), and it only strenghtened after the Ossetian war.

But from the point of law enforcement, it's interesting to watch the progress. Starting with firing of the entire traffic police during the reforms. Police cars design following the similar trends as Bulgaria (maybe with little bit of Macedonia). And while their uniforms initially had strong influence in southern European countries like Greece and Italy, from the second video you almost could have had the feel, it was taking place somewhere in Austria, or Germany. Meanwhile the briefing of current prime minister handing over new equippment to the force, is extremely Hawaiian.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 24 2014, 07:31 PM
QUOTE
I don't understand that either. Won't Japan be next best option? And I thought that you guys will be just getting US made Caprice or Impala.


You'd think that Japan would be the first place to look, since there are so many Japanese cars on NZ roads. The police here already use Nissan Maximas as unmarked patrol cars.
Japan has far better options for police cruisers and especially Highway Patrol cars. The new Impreza WRX and Evo X are extremely fast, are 4-wheel-drive, are much lighter, have brilliant handling and are actually cheaper (and smaller) than a new Commodore SV6. Korea doesn't really have anything like that. I would love to see the local constabulary driving around in BMWs and Mercedes C-Classes, but they're too expensive.

By the way, the Caprice is actually Australian-made (it's a Holden), so they certainly won't be replacing other Holdens. The Impala is actually made in Canada (but Chevrolet is definitely American), and they are huge, heavy, expensive, front-wheel drive (Commodores are rear-wheel drive), not very fast, have terrible handling and are not available in right-hand-drive.

QUOTE
Also while looking into more exotique destinations, I have noticed that Georgian police have changed their appearance once again.


I don't like the Interceptor livery. You can't see the car. A British-style livery would be a better option because of the reflective Battenburg markings. A German- or Austrian-Style livery would certainly be a step in the right direction.

QUOTE
Georgia is definitely serious about being independent from Russia


Definitely. Their old Polits'iis livery was almost identical to Russia's Policija. If they want to join the EU then a European-style police livery might have been more appropriate than an American one.

On a side note, I see that Georgian police trainees prefer indoor football to rugby. Georgia failed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA world cup, but they did qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Russia is still working on it.
Neither Germany nor the Czech Republic qualified, I'm afraid.

Posted by: XJ220 Jul 25 2014, 05:04 AM
I suppose Lancers and Imprezas might be a bit expensive to maintain? Moreover, in how many cases could you actually make use of their performance without putting others at risk?

...and I didn't even know there was a rugby world cup biggrin.png Not interested in sports anyways, unless there is an engine involved (and at least four wheels).

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 25 2014, 08:18 PM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Jul 25 2014, 08:04 AM)
I suppose Lancers and Imprezas might be a bit expensive to maintain? Moreover, in how many cases could you actually make use of their performance without putting others at risk?

You have a point. I've heard that Subarus are quite unreliable. The WRX STi (all models) is also the most commonly stolen car in New Zealand, so I don't know whether it would be ironic or appropriate for the police to drive them. Evos are also favoured by thieves.

The trouble is, when police pursue a dangerous driver, they back off too soon, which creates an incentive to drive even more dangerously. However, the Commodores probably can't take much hard driving on the roads here, because there are so many tight corners and narrow roads. They're simply no match for the modified Japanese pocket rockets that boy racers drive.

QUOTE
...and I didn't even know there was a rugby world cup.  Not interested in sports anyways, unless there is an engine involved (and at least four wheels).


Nor am I. The only Rugby matches I'd watch would be in the world cup, which only happens every four years. The only sport I play is cricket; specifically as the batsman. I don't watch cricket on television, though, because it gets boring.
The only major sporting events I watch would be the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games (which are on at the moment).

Unfortunately, we don't get much motorsport on telly here. That's definitely my favourite sport.

Posted by: XJ220 Jul 26 2014, 04:27 AM
Plus Evos and Subarus with their AWDs should generally be harder to maintain as there are many more wearing parts. I also suppose that spare parts for either, esp. for the Subarus might be more expensive because the cars are not as common as others?

Aaand: no car outruns a Motorola. Also, are there no helicopters available?

Posted by: Dark One Jul 30 2014, 01:55 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jul 24 2014, 10:31 PM)
You'd think that Japan would be the first place to look, since there are so many Japanese cars on NZ roads.  The police here already use Nissan Maximas as unmarked patrol cars.
Japan has far better options for police cruisers and especially Highway Patrol cars.  The new Impreza WRX and Evo X are extremely fast, are 4-wheel-drive, are much lighter, have brilliant handling and are actually cheaper (and smaller) than a new Commodore SV6.  Korea doesn't really have anything like that.  I would love to see the local constabulary driving around in BMWs and Mercedes C-Classes, but they're too expensive.

It doesn't really have to be interceptors like WRX and EVO. There are others, that also can be used as patrol cars. Not to mention that Nissan or Toyota are offering cars suitable for police duty as well.

And are we really going to use as argument that some car is not acceptable for patrol, because it gets stolen the most or prefered by criminals?! Then police forces around the world might as well stop using BMWs and Mercedes patrol cars. tongue.png

QUOTE
I don't like the Interceptor livery.  You can't see the car.  A British-style livery would be a better option because of the reflective Battenburg markings.  A German- or Austrian-Style livery would certainly be a step in the right direction.

I don't think that their Taurus Interceptor is anything more than promo car. And I'm not really keen of local police departments in US, that are discarding their own paint schemes to imitate Ford's. dry.png Either way, that NYPD design they got on new patrol cars is the current one.

Also, I was never really fan of the Battenburg. It was designed in the middle of nineties with the thought of ambulances and firetrucks. It was passable on some police cars of the time, like Range Rover, Volvo V70, Opel Vectra, or BMW E39, but it completely misses the point with modern cars like Ford Focus or Hyundai i30. There is not really any advantage over thick reflective stripe with bright trim, unless you really wants to play puzzle with all the bits and pieces, and then wonder, where the hell to place the lettering or department's logo. dry.png

QUOTE
Definitely.  Their old Polits'iis livery was almost identical to Russia's Policija.  If they want to join the EU then a European-style police livery might have been more appropriate than an American one.

Well, their new paint scheme is really reminding me Bulgaria the most. As I recall there also being white/blue soviet era cars first (followed by absolute multi-colored mess), then they got some blue/whites from Korea, white/blues from Germany, all white with just the lettering, and finally the NYPD stripes.




These Hawaiian uniforms of Georgian police are maybe stretching it a bit, but police departments in some German states also prefered NYPD style over more neutral local modern designs. And I still remember, when Czech police updated their uniforms with summer polo-shirts, and winter fleece jackets, just to get critized that they are now looking too German, especially the hat (which remained unchanged, and got introduced in 1991). sleep.png

Posted by: CVPI19 Aug 4 2014, 11:37 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jul 24 2014, 11:31 PM)
QUOTE

By the way, the Caprice is actually Australian-made (it's a Holden), so they certainly won't be replacing other Holdens.  The Impala is actually made in Canada (but Chevrolet is definitely American), and they are huge, heavy, expensive, front-wheel drive (Commodores are rear-wheel drive), not very fast, have terrible handling and are not available in right-hand-drive.

Well the 8th & 9th generation Impalas were Canadian made altogether while the 10 generation is made in both the United States for the America market, & in Canada for both the Canadian & Middle Eastern markets along side the fleet & police only version of the 9th generation model aka the Impala Limited only for American & Canadian fleet & police customers. As for the next generation Caprice that would possibly be based on the Omega platform which is developed by Cadillac for its upcoming LTS sedan so don't be surprised if the next generation Caprice will be based on the LTS' platform.

Posted by: Dark One Aug 7 2014, 02:33 PM
It never ceases to amaze me how little is sometimes needed to make even generic paint scheme to http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/116815/Litvinov_-_Mestska_Policie_-_mobile_Wache. I'm just not sure that they will go that way with their regular patrol cars as well.

Also, I guess that it won't really hurt to see some Big Bad Boys like http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/117440/Decin_-_Policie_-_DHuFueKw around, but nowadays is more likely to get more like http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/114561/Usti_nad_Labem_-_Policie_-_FuStW_-_6U4_9368 instead.

And since I mentioned few posts back the sole Zetros in Czech use, http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/117438/Tusimice_-_HZSP_DNT_-_GTLF/photo/302604 it is.




By the way, as interesting news in relation to my last post, Police of the Czech Republic intends to return to use of garrison cap, mainly popular with SOS (State Defense Guard, counter-insurgency units comprised of army, gendarmerie, police and financial guard) in late thirties, and also widely used in the early days of SNB.

Posted by: XJ220 Aug 8 2014, 03:56 AM
Can't say that I like the T5's design. It's made of too many little things in my opinion, as if the designer tried to put everything that came to his mind into it.

The Amarok on the other hand is pretty nice, the Hyundai... not so much biggrin.png

And the Zetros is as badass as always.

By garrison cap you mean a side cap like the French Gendarmerie? What are they using now, visor caps? In Germany it's either visor cap or beret nowadays.

Posted by: Dark One Aug 8 2014, 08:09 AM
That T5 is mobile police office, so it's only natural that its marking incorporates as well the designation, direct line to the office and their moto EVERYWHERE. But what I would like to see more, is the municipal police using their patch on the doors, which generally went out of the favor by the late nineties, and is only slowly returning back recently, when the law only mandates the lettering to be blue in color, and straight letters.

But nowadays, municipal police departments are either trying to http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/115709/Lysa_nad_Labem_-_Mestska_Policie_-_FuStW, wants to win the price for http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/58728/Jablonec_Nad_Nisou_-_Mestska_Policie_-_FuStW_-_2L5_1395, or doesn't gives a damn, http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/72309/Cesky_Krumlov_-_Mestska_Policie_-_FuStW.

The Amarok looks badass, while Hyundai cars must have been designed for the Martians, just to fly away at any moment. tongue.png

Exactly. Media mostly claim it to be return to the eighties, but back then only motor patrol units and maybe the Troops of the MoI worn these. And since the 1991 police officers worn either the visor cap, or beret. Meanwhile Justice and Prison Guards, as well as the Customs agents, still had the garrison cap available as the optional headwear.

Posted by: XJ220 Aug 9 2014, 05:28 AM
I think the side cap has the disadvantage of being a rather loose headgear. Too easy to lose it when you have to move quickly or outside of the XZ-plane. Beret and visor cap stays in place almost no matter what you do.

Posted by: Paul Spain Aug 10 2014, 11:33 AM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Aug 8 2014, 11:56 AM)
Can't say that I like the T5's design. It's made of too many little things in my opinion, as if the designer tried to put everything that came to his mind into it.

The Amarok on the other hand is pretty nice, the Hyundai... not so much biggrin.png

And the Zetros is as badass as always.

By garrison cap you mean a side cap like the French Gendarmerie? What are they using now, visor caps? In Germany it's either visor cap or beret nowadays.

Nils you forgot the Ami ballcap..Polizei has these too..I my self prefer visor hats, Berets looks too soldierish to me,Those French can hats just don't look right outside France,Or hey..What if German police go back to using my favorite hats?:

user posted image
biggrin.png cool.png

Posted by: Dark One Aug 10 2014, 02:28 PM
Standard brigadier hat is definitely first to go airborne entering the pursuit, that's why officers are allowed to wear berets in the first place (or baseball caps with the tactical BDU). It is also popular to wear the beret folded uder the epaulet (just like prison guards wears their garrison caps). And in 1991 Federal Police was apparently wearing the kepi. Well, in these rare occasions you actually managed to run into them somehow. tongue.png



Also following recent events I have noticed that Israeli police http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6908.asp, from the more http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number3231.asp one they were using in the past years.

Meanwhile http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6741.asp continues having the http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6742.asp. And don't even let me start on the http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6806.asp! tongue.png

Posted by: Paul Spain Aug 10 2014, 02:46 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Aug 10 2014, 10:28 PM)
Standard brigadier hat is definitely first to go airborne entering the pursuit, that's why officers are allowed to wear berets in the first place (or baseball caps with the tactical BDU). It is also popular to wear the beret folded uder the epaulet (just like prison guards wears their garrison caps). And in 1991 Federal Police was apparently wearing the kepi. Well, in these rare occasions you actually managed to run into them somehow. tongue.png



Also following recent events I have noticed that Israeli police http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6908.asp, from the more http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number3231.asp one they were using in the past years.

Meanwhile http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6741.asp continues having the http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6742.asp. And don't even let me start on the http://www.police-car-photos.com/picture/number6806.asp! tongue.png

I once read Belarus is like U.S.S.R. still exists..Froze in time..Their leader don't like Western things much. AND this video tends to back that as they have this thing (1958 Volga) in use but with the 1970's-1980's Tesla siren.



Posted by: Dark One Aug 10 2014, 03:18 PM
Lukashenko is just typical dictator. Leading the communistic party and having his own KGB, but also enjoying wealths of the west. After all even that video is showing their fleet of Chrysler 300C patrol cars. And standard Belarus police car is either Opel or Skoda, instead of Lada. Out of the irony, they would as well get the Volvo or MG patrol cars, because these are owned by the Chinese.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Aug 13 2014, 06:00 PM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Jul 26 2014, 07:27 AM)
Aaand: no car outruns a Motorola. Also, are there no helicopters available?

Yes, the police radio ahead to other cars if they need to.
I've watched several NZ Police TV programmes, but I don't think I've ever seen a police helicopter. I know they have one in Auckland, and they must have one in other main centres, but we never really have chases serious enough to need a helicopter; the speeders usually crash, which actually happens quite a lot.

QUOTE
It doesn't really have to be interceptors like WRX and EVO. There are others, that also can be used as patrol cars. Not to mention that Nissan or Toyota are offering cars suitable for police duty as well.


Maybe. The Australian police sometimes use Toyota Camrys, but that's because they're made there. The police here have a few unmarked Nissan Maximas and I think a couple of Toyota Aurions, but they're not really fast enough for serious chases. Mind you, as I said before, the speeders usually crash before they need anything really fast. Either that or they call off the pursuit and let them get away.

QUOTE
And are we really going to use as argument that some car is not acceptable for patrol, because it gets stolen the most or prefered by criminals?! Then police forces around the world might as well stop using BMWs and Mercedes patrol cars.


You have a point. The Jaguar Mark 2 was the number 1 getaway car in the UK during the 60s and 70s, but it was also the number 1 police car.

QUOTE
The Amarok on the other hand is pretty nice, the Hyundai... not so much


Amaroks are very popular here, so maybe the police will use them after they phase out their Isuzu D-Max/Holden Colorado utes. The Hyundai ix35 is also very popular, so I suppose they might replace the Holden Captivas currently in service.

I didn't know that the German police use bérets. What is a visor cap? Over here, bérets are only worn by the army (who also tuck it under their epaulettes).

Posted by: XJ220 Aug 14 2014, 05:10 AM
@ Martin:

From my time in the army I know how easily the side cap is lost if you run. Or even in stronger wind. My beret always stayed in place but the navy and airforce people had to take their headgear off or hold it in place. While none of us had visor caps, I can hardly imagine they're even less stable? Plus they should provide better protection against the weather, though the side cap's and beret's ability to be stashed away easily is something nice as well.

I am quite surprised Belarus isn't just generally copying Russia. A black & white CVPI... intriguing!

@ Paul:

I'd rather say I repressed the memory of base caps... with German police or military uniforms, they're just a no-go for me.


@ Max:

In Germany, helicopters are even used to find people, whether they're suspects or lost. They have infrared equipment for that purpose. Excessive speeding or racing is a rather rare thing here as far as I am aware, so I do not know what'd be used in such a case. Unless a Gumball/Cannonball rally takes place happy.png Then it's roadblocks and lots of squad cars. Party crashers biggrin.png

http://asyl.ifp-kma.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Einkesseln-1280x553.jpg you can see an example of the German police using the beret. It's mainly used by the so called 'Bereitschaftspolizei', large formations prepared for violent demonstrations and grand-scale searching tasks.

And http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polizeiuniform_(Deutschland)#mediaviewer/Datei:Uniformmodell_Hessen2.JPG is a visor cap of the 'western' form, used by the German police. The upper part is usually much bigger in Russia/China and associated countries.

Posted by: Dark One Aug 14 2014, 10:25 AM
Baseball caps are not all that common in Czech police, used mostly with the tactical uniform, by bomb squad, or out of the convenience, by detectives at the scene.
And while I saw the garrison cap in use with the army, air force, customs, and justice guards, unfortunately I am not recalling any circumstances of officers losing the cap to the weather. tongue.png


Also, police cars in Belarus commonly were white/black or silver/blue, but if you noticed these new Opels in my post, these are flawlessly following the actual Russian design.

And as far as I know, Chinese never had the wide hat used by the Russia and ex-soviet countries.

Posted by: XJ220 Aug 15 2014, 04:37 AM
As for the side cap, how easily it can be lost likely also depends on its exact style — some are taller, some wider than others.

And yes, I noticed how Russian the Opels look. Which didn't surprise me considering how close Russia and Belarus are politically.

And you're right about the visor cap, must have mistaken China for... North Korea? ph34r.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Aug 16 2014, 02:26 AM
Well, Belarus used to be called 'White Russia'. It still is in German (Weißrussland) and several other languages.

QUOTE
And this is a visor cap of the 'western' form, used by the German police. The upper part is usually much bigger in Russia/China and associated countries.


So that's what those hats are called. The New Zealand police wear them too, although the top is wider and flatter. They're also dark blue. The uniform looks a lot like the one that the German officer on the left is wearing.

The police here wore bobbie helmets until they were discontinued in 1995. According to a 2008 survey, a lot of officers think that they should start wearing them again, to reinforce their professional image. I, for one, think it would be cool if they wore helmets again.

Posted by: Dark One Aug 21 2014, 03:09 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Aug 13 2014, 09:00 PM)
Maybe.  The Australian police sometimes use Toyota Camrys, but that's because they're made there.  The police here have a few unmarked Nissan Maximas and I think a couple of Toyota Aurions, but they're not really fast enough for serious chases.  Mind you, as I said before, the speeders usually crash before they need anything really fast.  Either that or they call off the pursuit and let them get away.

QUOTE
Amaroks are very popular here, so maybe the police will use them after they phase out their Isuzu D-Max/Holden Colorado utes.  The Hyundai ix35 is also very popular, so I suppose they might replace the Holden Captivas currently in service.

We are still operating with the option of replacing the Holdens with something else, but it's not like the brand itself will get phased out, it will just become Strayan Vauxhall. And since Colorado is rebadged Isuzu, and Captiva is Daewoo, I won't be afraid that they will get rid of them anytime soon.

With the demise of Commodore without any direct successor, you've got left only with the Malibu, but that was also already used as police car in the past, and still is to this day, in US as well as some other countries around the world. And we are still going by the expectation, that there actually won't be any attempt to introduce Holden Impala, or some rebadged Buick to fill the void. LaCrosse could easily become new Lumina and nobody will even notice.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 3 2014, 02:47 PM
I hope that New Zealand will get Vauxhalls back after Holden goes. We used to get Astras and Vectras here, although they seem to have disappeared. We get D-Max utes here; not all of them have the Holden badge. I'm not sure what the Captiva will be. The Captiva 7 is a Chevrolet in the rest of the world, but as far as I'm aware, Chevrolets are not imported here. Even the Korean market has the Chevrolet Captiva. The Captiva 5, on the other hand, has several names. It might become the Vauxhall Antara here.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 4 2014, 04:25 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Sep 3 2014, 05:47 PM)
I hope that New Zealand will get Vauxhalls back after Holden goes.  We used to get Astras and Vectras here, although they seem to have disappeared.  We get D-Max utes here; not all of them have the Holden badge.  I'm not sure what the Captiva will be.  The Captiva 7 is a Chevrolet in the rest of the world, but as far as I'm aware, Chevrolets are not imported here.  Even the Korean market has the Chevrolet Captiva.  The Captiva 5, on the other hand, has several names.  It might become the Vauxhall Antara here.

I see that we are still not on the same wave. What I am trying to tell you is that (as far as I know) the Holden is to stay. It will just keep importing what it offers now, and likely rebadge some more in place of Commodore and Caprice.

But it would be stupid, if not suicidal, to disband the brand. In other words, it won't get replaced by the Vauxhall, if will just become the Australian counterpart.

Posted by: Martin the hedgehog Oct 12 2014, 03:02 AM
One particular cruiser in my home city (VAZ 2110, unit number 424, license plate Y 0724 70) uses a pretty good reimagination of Russian Police paintjob design:
user posted image
user posted image
user posted image
user posted image

Posted by: XJ220 Oct 12 2014, 06:52 AM
lolol the pushbar covers the foglights... is that the winner of 'Pimp my Cruiser'?

Posted by: Sirius-R Oct 13 2014, 01:00 AM
Nope, this one is:
user posted image
tongue.png

Foglights are not (or very rarely) used here, so I don't find that weird. They took the pushbar off anyway.

Posted by: XJ220 Oct 13 2014, 05:53 AM
Of course Moscow has to beat the rest of the country ^^

Is this a sport version of the 110? Almost looks like a counterpart of the Escort Cosworth.

Posted by: Sirius-R Oct 13 2014, 07:53 AM
Nah, it's a regular hatchback model (112, 111 stands for station wagon) with rice on it. There has been a sport version of 112, but the only visual difference it had is having 3 doors instead of 5.

Posted by: Paul Spain Oct 14 2014, 11:10 PM
user posted image

huh.png Oh no..When I released my version of this based off my diecast car I got looks like I left something out. Mine lacks this red frame around the license plate mounting area, Does that light up? Or it might just be they forgot to paint the rest silver if the car used to be red.

Posted by: Sirius-R Oct 15 2014, 06:52 PM
I've just noticed it myself... As I can't recall any Lada having these, I'd say it'a third-party license plate frame, which are very common here, if it didn't seem to be the part of a rear bumper to me. I have to see it in person to say what it is.

upd: Yep, it's a third-party frame.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 22 2015, 09:43 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jul 16 2014, 02:04 PM)

Also while looking into more exotique destinations, I have noticed that Georgian police have changed their appearance once again.

From http://youtu.be/fT9_Srcc4-E of http://youtu.be/8piJ-EQnddk, to more http://youtu.be/CtkD-m9uudo one, down to the badges.

And when you compare their old https://flic.kr/p/oDGTt patrol cars from post-soviet times, to more recent https://flic.kr/p/akS3eE, and https://flic.kr/p/kiSjJ2, they surely http://youtu.be/O_eJdCFpZxs.


And you can almost say that Georgian police is changing their paint scheme as one's changing the socks.

For new year, they are back with another one, and even getting themselves whole fleet of Taurus Interceptors to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of current police force.




Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 27 2015, 03:15 PM
Very nice livery; I love the gunmetal-grey/white combination. Reflective markings probably wouldn't go astray, although the Taurus is so eye-catching that it probably doesn't need them.

As for the Minsk CVPI ... at least the Belarussians put alloy wheels on their cruisers. Can't say the same for North America or NZ.

How to spot an unmarked police car: they don't have alloys (a dead give-away).

Posted by: Dark One Feb 5 2015, 11:17 PM


It is quite a sight, though I hope that new Skodas will still keep entering the service there.

Posted by: XJ220 Feb 6 2015, 06:01 AM
They look kinda out of place... like aliens biggrin.png

Wonder how complicated it might be to maintain such cars there? I doubt there are too many other Taurus... Taurusses(?) on the streets.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Feb 10 2015, 01:44 PM
QUOTE
It is quite a sight, though I hope that new Skodas will still keep entering the service there.


It's a pretty cool sight. I agree about the Škodas. I bet they (and the Hiluxes) would look great in that grey/white livery.


QUOTE
They look kinda out of place... like aliens biggrin.png


They do. That street actually looks like it could be anywhere in continental Europe. There aren't any cars in that video that wouldn't be found in New Zealand. Even the Taurus is coming here eventually.

Posted by: Dark One Mar 10 2015, 12:23 PM
Volunteer firefighters from Životice just got themselves new ride. And it's Tatra! And it's RAL3024!! And that's good!!! laugh.png Well, to them for sure. wink.png In Ostrava it became a custom, that regional fire brigade gets new cars sponsored by the City in luminous red, while volunteer corps gets theirs in fire red, and these just can't compare in visibility. So it's welcome change, that volunteers from the region are actually not afraid to invest in visibility, and gets their vehicles marked in 3024.


For comparison, I also added video with regional fire brigade's Tatra trucks from 2011 and 2013.


Posted by: XJ220 Mar 11 2015, 03:17 AM
Very cool truck! cool.png

Just... I kinda doubt that RAL3024 should cost that much more considering it's not paint but foils? ...which would make the decision to give volunteers RAL3000 really dumb...

Posted by: Dark One Mar 11 2015, 12:05 PM
Well, it's not the same. When you want red truck, you get red truck. When you want 3024, you have to get white truck, and wrap it in foil. And while it's hardly as expensive, as when they had to paint the truck entirely (where white base was necessary, and red paint worns out eventually) luminous red is still exclusive color, so even the foil have to be more expensive to actually be "luminous".

Posted by: XJ220 Mar 12 2015, 04:05 AM
Red paint is always a bit more expensive than other colors AFAIK because it needs special treatment to withstand the sun. So, white truck (cheap(-est?) color) plus RAL3024 foils should still be cheaper than a truck painted in regular red. I think happy.png

Edit: I also came across https://flic.kr/p/pvyQmE at Flickr.

Posted by: Dark One Mar 12 2015, 09:35 PM
I'm last one to defend the trilobites at General Directorate, but I'm pretty sure that to wrap the entire truck in 3024 must still be more expensive than just getting the red truck from the start. And another reason might be that while Moravian Silesia is generally doing whatever we damn well please, 3024 got accepted as optional color in the regulations only recently.

As for the Caprice. I won't believe that I'd say this one day, but I'm actually glad that some police cars are getting Hotwheels treatment lately. And New York used to be rather conservative about that.

Posted by: Dark One Apr 9 2015, 03:20 AM
And sometimes, when volunteer firefighters have full support of local authorities, they can make miracles.


Posted by: XJ220 Apr 9 2015, 05:46 AM
Full support and a tight budget, I suppose? The truck is from... the 1970's? While it seems to be in great shape from the outside, what does it look like underneath?

Don't get me wrong, I like what I see, but I am not sure whether it's a future-proof investment and how up-to-date the underlying vehicle is in comparison to its equipment.

Posted by: Dark One Apr 9 2015, 05:15 PM
That Trambus is just as old as yours truly, tongue.png and for JPO5 from littletown, that's not bad at all. Not to mention that as the narration states, everything that could've got changed on it, already did. That truck actually got born anew. wink.png
Patched-together firetrucks from seventies are something one would expect. But this one is one of the latest of its kind. And the price was about 1/8 of new Tatra, like that one our guys just got.


And for something more to the topic:

DAMN, THIS THING IS CUTE! biggrin.png



Too bad it got Saabed.

Posted by: XJ220 Apr 10 2015, 04:41 AM
The narration in a language nobody here but you understands? Sorry I did not take that into account! tongue.png

And if they got it for that fraction of a new Tatra, I suppose it really is a good deal.

...but the design is so 70's? Long production frame, I guess. just not as long as the Lada 2105's biggrin.png

---

If that Japanese cruiser's tower was even a bit higher, the car would topple when cornering happy.png

Posted by: Dark One Apr 10 2015, 11:38 AM
You will have to take my word for it. tongue.png

It's design is from fifties, but it survived until late eighties.


That Kizashi is highway patrol. Maybe not as majestic as Toyota Crown, but it gets the work done. wink.png

And it's so damn cute! laugh.png


Posted by: XJ220 Apr 11 2015, 03:12 AM
And they can even raise it further? Couldn't the hightech country find a more compact solution? happy.png

Posted by: Dark One Apr 14 2015, 05:34 AM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Apr 11 2015, 06:12 AM)
Couldn't the hightech country find a more compact solution?  happy.png

http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/116595/Ticino_-_Polizia_Cantonale_-_Patrouillenwagen_-_2100, Nils. http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/19329/LG-3117_-_VW_Touran_-_FuStW. tongue.png

Seriously, though. They are just doing what Americans already tried in sixties, when lightbars were still something new. And as the saying goes, why fixing something that isn't broken. wink.png

It's still more compact, that having on the roof whole platform with huge display, like highway patrol cars in Quebec, or Germany.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Apr 14 2015, 02:53 PM
Most Japanese Police cars have extendable lightbars. The reason for that is so the lights can be raised above the traffic to make them easier to see.

I'm not sure if the Kisashi is the most appropriate car for highway patrol, but since Japan has a 50 km/h open road speed limit, you don't really need a sports car.

As for the truck, the interesting thing about Eastern cars is that they didn't get regular facelifts. Take the Tatra 613 for example. It was released in 1976 and hardly got changed at all until it was discontinued in 1994. It didn't really need to, as it didn't look old until a couple of years before it was taken out of production.

I must say, I quite like seeing old vehicles getting the modern treatment. I bet the 32-year-old Hino tanker at our local station would look reasonably good in the latest livery.

Posted by: XJ220 Apr 15 2015, 09:32 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Apr 14 2015, 03:34 PM)
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Apr 11 2015, 06:12 AM)
Couldn't the hightech country find a more compact solution?  happy.png

http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/116595/Ticino_-_Polizia_Cantonale_-_Patrouillenwagen_-_2100, Nils. http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/19329/LG-3117_-_VW_Touran_-_FuStW. tongue.png

Seriously, though. They are just doing what Americans already tried in sixties, when lightbars were still something new. And as the saying goes, why fixing something that isn't broken. wink.png

It's still more compact, that having on the roof whole platform with huge display, like highway patrol cars in Quebec, or Germany.

Uh, IMO you can't compare vans to cars. German traffic police use the bigger lighting setups on vans only, squad cars get extendable signs or a high-rise beacon. And even the setups our vans have nowadays are smaller than what the Japanese use there tongue.png http://polizeiautos.de/show_zusatzbild.php?id=324 (which is more than a decade old) is big, but most definitely effective. And http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=7775 have a more up-to-date setup. Which is not lolhuge. Take that! And the Swiss Passat there isn't that top-heavy, either. That small tower below the lightbar serves multiple purposes. The most important is to provide a crumple zone between the lightbar and the occupants' heads should the car roll over.

Posted by: Dark One Apr 15 2015, 02:25 PM
Besides reducing air drag, and safety measures, reason for that combination of large tower and tall lightbar was for the design to http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/69611/N-3882_-_Audi_A4_-_FuStW_-_Nuernberg in traffic (and Japanese lightbars are hardly taller than these used in Germany).
Also, as you mentioned, large platforms are usually found only on big vans, while patrol cars on highways, if anything, have just beacon on a stick, or/and smaller display they carry on the roof, behind the lightbar.

http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/81727/OHZ-3915_-_VW-Golf_Variant_-_Fustw, you have the same combination on smaller patrol car, where it is also used as a sign (but obviously still lacks the advantage of hydraulic platform able to raise the lightbar further).

Not to mention that you can find these towers mainly on large sedans like http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/58792/Kyoto_-_Police_-_FuStW, or Subaru Legacy, and the highrising lightbar makes a difference, until the accident squad arrives on the scene with large van.

Posted by: XJ220 Apr 16 2015, 08:27 AM
Though the Golf's and A4's lightbars' displays are used for performing traffic stops and not for warning purposes.

And I am not questioning the purpose of the raising mechanic, but it still looks unproportional to me. Oh well, form follows function.

Posted by: Dark One Apr 16 2015, 10:54 AM
Well, that is just matter of different concept. I'm only trying to show you that TOP-4 lightbar on larger tower can get just as tall, for the purpose it serves. And Japanese simply prefered highrising lightbar, and display mounted behind the rear window.

Another matter is, that I only saw that highrising beacon, or LED display mounted on the roof for accident management, on handful of German patrol cars, while you literally can tell Japanese road patrol by the tower.

Posted by: Dark One Apr 21 2015, 12:15 PM
Anyway, new season finally started, and that is time for car enthusiasts to present their precious to general public. And it's no different with people collecting historic police cars. So here is latest video with some fresh additions to the fleet. wink.png


Posted by: XJ220 Apr 22 2015, 08:12 AM
I like the black unmarked one with the huge beacon biggrin.png

Posted by: Dark One Apr 22 2015, 10:01 PM
Well, what can I say. https://flic.kr/p/7WCsww are amongst the greatest things that come from our country.

In this particular case it's Tatra 613-3 executive sedan of government protection, and these were likely only ones equipped with that magnetic Tesla beacon (mostly carrying it around in the trunk, because they had zebra cars to pass them through the traffic under the red light)

Speaking of zebra cars, my favorite for this year is definitely that Tatra 603 following after the BMW motorcade of "police president". tongue.png There are also white Tatra 613 of military police, another 613 should be in deposit of police museum, then there are yellow/white https://flic.kr/p/nSGWPR and 613-3 in Slovakia, another https://flic.kr/p/rZcDQv just got finished earlier this year by PHS, and there is also one 613-3 of TAI (though with incorrect bumpers), but that 603 is one of a kind.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 12 2015, 02:23 PM
I do like the Škoda 130, but my favourite Czech car is the Tatra 613. It looks cool, it's fast and it has a V8. What's not to like?

I love that siren! I don't know why.

Posted by: Dark One May 12 2015, 11:20 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 12 2015, 05:23 PM)
I do like the Škoda 130, but my favourite Czech car is the Tatra 613.  It looks cool, it's fast and it has a V8.  What's not to like?

After all, it's work of Carrozzeria Vignale, and Tatra itself being one of the oldest car companies in the world also helps. wink.png

Anyway, here is the aforementioned https://flic.kr/p/pD5TV8 of Tank and Automotive Inspection. The car itself is unlikely to remember these days, considering the bumpers, and electric mirrors usually found only on Tatra 613 Special (the one with Mercedes headlights), but it's apparently more of a show car.

QUOTE
I love that siren!  I don't know why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eggcBc0sOUg. tongue.png


Also, new http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/122449/Pardubice_-_Mestska_Policie_-_FuStW/photo/328894 in livery of municipal police from Pardubice. It apparently recycled lightbar from older patrol car. Not that it looks bad with it, but in times of multicolor linear LEDs, and whatnot, twin strobes aren't really that impressive anymore.

And http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/122452/Frydek-Mistek_-_HZS_-_GTLF of our regional fore brigade. They actually plan to get sixteen more of these, so maybe one will end up here as well.


Posted by: XJ220 May 13 2015, 07:51 AM
Nice crash truck tongue.png Nah, really a nice beast, just rearward lighting seems to be a tad minimalistic?

And, you know, that municipal police design looks like something EA could have come up with for NFS:HS biggrin.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 13 2015, 04:05 PM
QUOTE
I will remind you.


Yes, that's why. I guess when you grow up at a time when all fire engines had sirens like that, you get to like it.

QUOTE
And new toy of our regional fore brigade. They actually plan to get sixteen more of these, so maybe one will end up here as well.


That looks like an Airport Crash Tender ... and it's a town fire engine? Wow, I bet the local firefighters at my new home would love one of these for when it snows. They only have Iveco Eurocargos and Mitsubishi Canters.

QUOTE
And, you know, that municipal police design looks like something EA could have come up with for NFS:HS


It really does! If HS had a track in the Czech Republic, the police cars would probably look like that.

I was looking for some more photos of that livery when I came across these:

user posted imageuser posted image

It seems a bit odd to see these cars in Czech liveries.

Also, I see that Pardubice has British/Swedish/New Zealand-style ambulances:

user posted imageuser posted image

Posted by: Paul Spain May 15 2015, 04:18 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Apr 21 2015, 08:15 PM)
Anyway, new season finally started, and that is time for car enthusiasts to present their precious to general public. And it's no different with people collecting historic police cars. So here is latest video with some fresh additions to the fleet. wink.png


I got a great Volga base just like that car at 0:22..But it's a bit high poly..Could be cut down though if some's got time..I bought that and the station wagon of it when I got my money back from the eagle many months back from TurboSquid..they lied on it and said it was low poly (7000 something) but it's closer to about 15000 polies ohmy.png I would like to do the M21 police vehicles but this thing would have to be cut alot.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 24 2015, 07:01 PM
More about ambulances; I just saw a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser "Troop Carrier" ambulance at the local St John Ambulance station. A few days ago there was an Isuzu D-Max there, but it looks like it's been replaced.

The new Land Cruiser looks very smart in bright yellow with an LED lightbar on the roof. It would be great for the mountains and snow, which is good because there are a LOT of mountains around here.

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera on me and I can't find a picture of the car on the net. I'll take a picture next time.

It also snowed last night. It doesn't happen too often, especially not outside Winter, but we got 10 to 20 cm of snow down to 200m above sea level. I live at 350m.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 12 2015, 02:53 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 13 2015, 07:05 PM)
Yes, that's why.  I guess when you grow up at a time when all fire engines had sirens like that, you get to like it.

It's like Powercall, but better. And this high-pitched variant won't have any issues with not being heard, by people in the way. Some of modern sirens are just bland in comparison.

Of course I can't miss the opportunity, to compare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd-Fp1PuleQ.
QUOTE
That looks like an Airport Crash Tender ... and it's a town fire engine?  Wow, I bet the local firefighters at my new home would love one of these for when it snows.  They only have Iveco Eurocargos and Mitsubishi Canters.

I won't really call it town engine, that's what the shorter 4x4 is for. This is a "pond", used to replace old Tatra 148s, and short cabin Tatra 815s.
QUOTE (XJ220 @ May 13 2015, 10:51 AM)
Nice crash truck Nah, really a nice beast, just rearward lighting seems to be a tad minimalistic?

And, you know, that municipal police design looks like something EA could have come up with for NFS:HS

From what I've already seen, these tilted rear flashers are really effective, and since there is long traffic advisor, it's corner modules are almost certainly blue.
QUOTE
It really does!  If HS had a track in the Czech Republic, the police cars would probably look like that.

If HS has a track located in Czech Republic, police cars would be white Skoda Octavia with green stripe.

QUOTE
I was looking for some more photos of that livery when I came across these

It seems a bit odd to see these cars in Czech liveries.

It seems a bit odd, but only because small part of our population, consisting of eternal whiners, is complaining that local police departments shouldn't have big bad cars, and playing Sheriffs.

In nineties, anything that had wheels could have ended up in the police use. Mazda 626, Ford Sierra, Mercedes 220, BMW 3 combi, Renault Laguna, Citroen ZX break, Ford Expedition, Jeep Cherokee, and the list goes on. At one point, we could have got as well Ford Focus for patrol cars, to accompany highway Mondeos, but the tender got canceled, and we ended up with lot of Skoda Fabia combis instead.

But these days are long gone, and this is how the latest addition to the fleet actually looks like:



Not to mention, that next year they are supposed to present to public true police special, made specifically for patrol duty.

QUOTE
Also, I see that Pardubice has British/Swedish/New Zealand-style ambulances

Actually, I'm still not really fond of them. Each country have different traditions, and different approach to emergency markings, and Czech ambulances should have remained yellow and red, or white and red, period.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 8 2015, 04:37 PM
QUOTE
It's like Powercall, but better. And this high-pitched variant won't have any issues with not being heard, by people in the way. Some of modern sirens are just bland in comparison.


It's much better than the powercall, which I hate. The high-pitched version is actually quite unusual here, usually it's lower in pitch.

As for the Aussie siren, I've always liked it, even though it's two sirens playing at once.


QUOTE
If HS has a track located in Czech Republic, police cars would be white Skoda Octavia with green stripe.


Ah. Yes they would. That livery doesn't look bad either. I was just agreeing with Nils's comment. When did they change that livery?


QUOTE
Not to mention, that next year they are supposed to present to public true police special, made specifically for patrol duty.


"Police special"? Sounds interesting. Looking forward to it!

Posted by: Dark One Jul 9 2015, 11:31 PM
QUOTE
It's much better than the powercall, which I hate.  The high-pitched version is actually quite unusual here, usually it's lower in pitch.

As for the Aussie siren, I've always liked it, even though it's two sirens playing at once.

I don't really care that much about the Powercall, except for similarity to Tesla siren, and being used as "futuristic" siren in Robocop TV series.

And two siren at once is actually a benefit. You don't have to switch it manually, when going through the intersection.

Honestly, I will never understand, why Victorian emergency services stopped using Locktronic. It's like anybody is sticking to traditions only when they need to avert any signs of progress, but when the tradition actually is worth a damn given, progress have the priority. Even American fire brigades are nowadays discouraged from use of Q siren, in favor of generic modern sirens.

QUOTE
Ah.  Yes they would.  That livery doesn't look bad either.  I was just agreeing with Nils's comment.  When did they change that livery?

Actually, I would like the most, if our police switched to white cars with red trimmed blue stripe back then, because it would be in our national colors, everybody already figured out that it's not that hot with the better resale value of silver patrol cars, and it also would have another symbolism in being reversed paint scheme of early VB patrol cars.

Old white cars with green stripe got replaced in 2008, and about to be completely phased out from the service by the end of this decade.

Also speaking of public security, I just found out that Ukraine made some use of the so called "peace" in eastern regions, and pushed through the police reform. So yet another post-soviet country officially broke away from the days of militsia. And just like with Georgia before, government is claiming that due to gargantuan level of corruption within the force, "old guard" will have to earn their right to wear the uniform.

Interestingly enough, their new uniforms, while being called American in style, reminds me of Austrian Bundespolizei the most, weren't it for the badge.

And they also gave public the opportunity to pick up new design for their patrol cars.


QUOTE
"Police special"?  Sounds interesting.  Looking forward to it!

I guess it would be just Skoda Octavia toughened and further equipped for the police duty.

There is no way in hell that this government would actually make the force out of Skoda Superb Interceptors, or something. tongue.png Even out of these silver Octavia patrol cars, some still didn't saw the duty yet, collecting the dust in garage thanks to past crisis.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 14 2015, 04:40 PM
The police here don't bother changing sirens at an intersection. The siren units have yelp, hi-lo and priority, but the drivers almost never use anything other than wail.


QUOTE
Actually, I would like the most, if our police switched to white cars with red trimmed blue stripe back then, because it would be in our national colors, everybody already figured out that it's not that hot with the better resale value of silver patrol cars, and it also would have another symbolism in being reversed paint scheme of early VB patrol cars.


A reflective stripe would be the way to go. Are the current blue and yellow markings reflective? I agree that white world be better, because it's more visible.

Personally I think that the current Czech livery looks quite smart, although white would probably be a better body colour.

Got any photos of that 'Sussex' VB livery you mentioned earlier?


Those new Ukrainian liveries are quite nice. I'm not sure which one I like the most, but I'm not too keen on the ones with dark blue doors and bonnets. I prefer the blue lights; they go well with the livery. The new badge is very German; obviously that's where they got their inspiration from. It looks like they're finally changing the name to Politsiya.


QUOTE
There is no way in hell that this government would actually make the force out of Skoda Superb Interceptors, or something.  Even out of these silver Octavia patrol cars, some still didn't saw the duty yet, collecting the dust in garage thanks to past crisis.


How much difference is there between a Superb and an Octavia?
Surely an Octavia RS 230 would be a good interceptor.

I wouldn't mind if the NZ police started getting BMWs and Mercs after the Commodore goes away, but a base model C-Class costs more than a Commodore SS-V. Besides, we're now getting the Insignia VXR down here, so maybe that will see police duty.

Posted by: Dark One Jul 18 2015, 03:31 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jul 14 2015, 07:40 PM)
The police here don't bother changing sirens at an intersection.  The siren units have yelp, hi-lo and priority, but the drivers almost never use anything other than wail.

Emergency services here tends to use all three alternatives to wail here, though yelp is indeed used mostly to clear the way through the intersection, in comparison for example to the UK, where yelp is the most used siren, next to hi-lo.

QUOTE
A reflective stripe would be the way to go.  Are the current blue and yellow markings reflective?  I agree that white world be better, because it's more visible.

Personally I think that the current Czech livery looks quite smart, although white would probably be a better body colour.

The current design is reflective with exception of the black lettering, on latest cars they just switched from golden yellow bits to lime yellow ones.

Apparently it already grew on me, but I would still prefer the https://flic.kr/p/9h3VkX reverted to blue stripe on white car.

Unfortunately, the actual design was made in 2008, during the silver craze, and nothing indicates anybody would be willing to go back to white cars anytime soon.

QUOTE
Got any photos of that 'Sussex' VB livery you mentioned earlier?

http://volha24.mypage.cz/rubriky/vozy-strazcu-zakona/jine-modifikace-vb.

QUOTE
Those new Ukrainian liveries are quite nice.  I'm not sure which one I like the most, but I'm not too keen on the ones with dark blue doors and bonnets.  I prefer the blue lights; they go well with the livery.  The new badge is very German; obviously that's where they got their inspiration from.  It looks like they're finally changing the name to Politsiya.

The second video is showing the final designs that will be actually entering the service, and I believe these red/blue lightbars will be only given to certain departments.

QUOTE
How much difference is there between a Superb and an Octavia?
Surely an Octavia RS 230 would be a good interceptor.

I would say that it's about the same as difference between Fusion and Taurus from Ford.

Posted by: Paul Spain Jul 19 2015, 12:46 PM
huh.png Does all the new Ukraine police vehicle have Patlite lightbars? They look like Patlite due to the siren sitting under the lightbar except these ain't boomerang shaped tongue.png . What lightbars is these?

laugh.png unit 132-102 is so British.

Posted by: NFS Police Force Jul 19 2015, 01:14 PM
How are you going to stop fast cars . Thoes look like clown cars . laugh.png laugh.png laugh.png

Posted by: Dark One Jul 19 2015, 03:20 PM
Ten years ago, most common police car in Czech Republic was still Skoda Felicia combi, or Fabia combi at best.

Even with these Priuses, they are already faring better than us back then. tongue.png And I won't really be afraid about dealing with fast cars on the Ukrainian roads. laugh.png
Not to mention that they likely will have different contract to deal with pursuit cars. I saw some Mitsubishi Lancers in the Ukrainian service.

Posted by: Paul Spain Jul 20 2015, 06:01 PM
QUOTE (NFS Police Force @ Jul 19 2015, 09:14 PM)
How are you going to stop fast cars . Thoes look like clown cars . laugh.png laugh.png laugh.png

huh.png You don't think they can sup them up some? wink.png It's wonders what they can do when a vehicle enters police services tongue.png . biggrin.png laugh.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 22 2015, 06:33 PM
That Sussex VB livery kind of reminds me of this Matchbox Car: http://mb-db.co.uk/showmodel.php?num=184&let=d

As for the red ones ... weren't fire engines painted in that colour scheme?

About the Superb: I saw the back of one a few days ago and it's definitely a different car.

The "silver craze" ... was that when Germany, Austria and Poland started using silver cars?

Ukrainian Mitsubishi Lancers ... were they Evos? I wouldn't mind seeing the Evo or WRX in police service here, especially since they're the same price as a Commodore.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 1 2015, 04:40 PM
Back in the late sixties fire trucks were all red, and command cars or transport vans were red with blue-trimmed white stripe.
But it wasn't until after that "Marlboro" prototype, that fire corps started using white doors with PO lettering on their cars and vans.

And now that I think about it, if wouldn't be that far-fetched to expect Skoda Superb Interceptor, but Octavia is still more likely.

Exactly. Now Germany is slowly going back to white cars, UK still can't decide for themselves, same for Hungary, and weirdest thing I saw, were blue-silver police cars in Switzerland, which have no reason whatsoever to abide to EU regulations, Schengen or not.

As far as I know, these were normal Lancers, but it was still more impressive, than Octavia, or Ladas from Kuchma times.


Also, I ran into interesting addition to Australian motor pool.

user posted image

user posted image

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 6 2015, 04:34 PM
Germany using white cars again? I think they should bring the green stripes back too. After all, Bavaria still doesn't use blue stripes.

Hungary still can't decide which side of the lightbar should be red (or if they should have any red at all).

Where did you see those blue and silver Swiss police cars? That's quite a departure from their standard white and orange livery.

I must say, the Tatra T815-7 is an awesome-looking truck. Where did you find those pictures? I guess they're show trucks, since they don't have a specific brigade's livery. Still, if they're getting them in Aussie, it's only a short trip to New Zealand. Here's hoping...

The red livery reminds me of a livery from Slovakia. I like it.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 8 2015, 01:33 PM
Actually, yes. Recently several federal states in Germany were testing http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8655 in addition to the lime yellow stripes, that were lately being incorporated into the designs of German police cars (I just wish they also got rid of the dashed line, because it really http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/121339/H-PD_649_-_MB_E_250_CDI_T-Modell_-_FuStW_BAB some of these new blue/yellow paint schemes).

As for the Switzerland, it happened http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/31969/Bremgarten_-_RePo_-_Patrouillenwagen_aD, usually they just copy the German design, while retaining the bright red color.

And as for the Bavaria, they seems to be the last man standing. Even Saarland already switched to silver/blue.

Also, while I got used to our emergency services copying what they saw elsewhere, for the better or worse of it, I still don't know what to think http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8604.


And because these three Hyundai ix35s they got two years ago weren't enough, Hyundai apparently need to get rid of them, and police didn't wanted to wait for the new Skoda Sasquatch, they got thirty "new" SUVs out of 150 in the final order "so the neighbor from Mladá Boleslav can be THIS small". laugh.png



At least police president got nice opportunity to show off in his new uniform. If he was afraid that officers would look too similar to firefighters when wearing the dress uniform, now he nailed it. tongue.png

And with all due respect... So none. That smartass Vošický should have got fired long long ago. Especially after the scandal with Hyundai dealerships breaking away en masse, because they simply grew tired of him. dry.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 8 2015, 04:00 PM
Interesting. White and green is still better in my opinion. It's also very iconic.

Our current police livery is obviously inspired by the UK, whereas we used to have http://www.policecarwebsite.net/pdcar4/pd/nz.html.

The St John Ambulance service recently started copying the British and Swedish http://www.111emergency.co.nz/F-I/HNF138.htm (not that there's anything wrong with yellow ambulances). The NZ Fire Service now has a fairly http://www.111emergency.co.nz/F-I/FGY527.htm http://www.111emergency.co.nz/F-I/FCH87.htm.

What's wrong with the ix35? I'm not quite sure I understand what you're talking about with regard to a Hyundai scandal and Mladá Boleslav being small. I also don't understand Czech, so the video was just pictures.

Holden recently won the contract to supply police vehicles to NZ for another few years, so I'm hoping we get the Insignia VXR after there's no more Commodore, since the VXR is the only Insignia model offered here. biggrin.png

It would be better than a Cruze or a Malibu.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 8 2015, 06:48 PM
I remember the original New Zealand police paint scheme from back when it was still in the use, like fifteen years ago.

Unfortunately, the Battenburg never caught my heart, and never will. Ambulances here were since the sixties http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/4780/Praha_-_ZZSHMP_-_NAW_aD, and since the eighties yellow/red.



Yellow/green combination means absolutely nothing here, and is being forced upon the regional emergency services, even to the dismay of experts. Result being that every region adopted http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/102441/Ceska_Lipa_-_ZZSLK_-_NEF_-_184, and noting got unified either way. Not to mention the half-assed attempts, that simply incorporated the "halvenburg" into the old paint scheme.

And while I'm aware, that we can pretty much thank Finnish Tamro for yellow/red ambulances, back then it was further improvement of http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/8305/Praha_-_ZZSHMP_-_159_-_NAW_aD, while Battenburg is departure from our own traditions, and attempt of the government to fix what is not broken, not to mention that we will end out as the only ones so eagerly adopting these regulations, and become the laughing stock of neighboring countries that actually intervened to keep their domestic designs.


What is wrong with the ix35, you ask? Being neither the new Tucson, nor the Santa Fe, perhaps. tongue.png
It is apparent that Hyundai just wanted to get rid of the old stock, that they can't sell the normal way anymore.
And the chairman dude is infamous here for his hostility towards the Skoda, hence the "small neighbor from Mladá Boleslav" which is actual slogan from the Hyundai campaign here, denoting the "inferiority of Skoda cars in comparison". dry.png

And his boasting over the new order for the 150 cars, no longer in the production, because the new generation is already being offered to the public, is hilarious in the light of "inferior Skoda" winning the contracts for literally tenfold the amount, including the so-called police special.


And as for the Holden. I still wouldn't rule out the possibility, that GM will simply convert to the right hand drive some big Buick, and sell it there as the new Commodore. Or they will go the full circle, and offer the Impala there.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 9 2015, 06:10 PM
QUOTE
I remember the original New Zealand police paint scheme from back when it was still in the use, like fifteen years ago.


Interesting. Were you in New Zealand at some point?

I remember it too, so I also remember when the orange/blue Battenburgs came out. At least they altered the typical design a little; so it wasn't just blue and orange/yellow squares like a chess board.


Inferiority of Skoda cars? Skodas have a reputation for being extremely reliable. I'm not too sure about Hyundai.

QUOTE
And as for the Holden. I still wouldn't rule out the possibility, that GM will simply convert to the right hand drive some big Buick, and sell it there as the new Commodore. Or they will go the full circle, and offer the Impala there.


Please no! We already have a big ugly American car; the Malibu. I doubt the Impala will be welcome here, since the (smaller) Commodore is considered a big car. Big cars are the worst cars you can drive in this country because we have lots of corners and small parking spaces. Besides, we've just had an increase in drivers doing 150 to 190 km/h on busy motorways (the maximum speed limit in NZ is 100), so a faster and more agile alternative like the Insignia would be better. The Commodores simply can't catch up.

Then again, in 1994 they merged the Ministry of Transport (traffic police) with the normal police, which was a really bad idea, so I guess anything's possible.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 9 2015, 10:33 PM
Of course not. But PCWS is around for quite a while, you know. cool.png And back in the days, there were also CopCruisers, which unfortunately died out somewhere in 2002 I think, and of course the (Gerard Donnelly's) Police Worldwide, which lasted few years longer, but then also have went gone.

QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Sep 9 2015, 09:10 PM)
Skodas have a reputation for being extremely reliable.

While Mr. Hjondé have a reputation of being extremely unsympathetic, arrogant, and insufferable. tongue.png


No idea what you have against the new Impala, though. It's one of the few modern Chevrolets I can actually stand. laugh.png

As for the insignia. The question is, http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/german-police-too-wide-for-their-cars-20120417-1x551.html? tongue.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 14 2015, 01:51 AM
I do like it when services get creative with Battenburgs, but I don't see what's wrong with http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/120429/Liberec_-_ZZSLK_-_PKW_-_239. If the markings are reflective, it shouldn't matter. St John Ambulance did not do anything special; they just adopted the checkerboard.

QUOTE
While Mr. Hjondé have a reputation of being extremely unsympathetic, arrogant, and insufferable. tongue.png


Who's that? Is he the dealer for Skoda?

QUOTE
No idea what you have against the new Impala, though. It's one of the few modern Chevrolets I can actually stand. laugh.png


It's not ugly; but it's massive and boring, not to mention front wheel drive. It wouldn't last five minutes on New Zealand's roads. Mind you, it was designed for America's third-world roads, so New Zealand's third-world road quality probably wouldn't be too much of a problem. Our corners would.

QUOTE
As for the insignia. The question is, will the kiwi officers fit in? tongue.png


What about the face-lifted Insignia? That article was written a year before the car was updated. I guess they'll have to try it out. Still, my guess is that the Cruze will get the job. I've seen a police Cruze here already. However, Holden have said that the Commodore name will be given to the original's German replacement, despite the fact that they killed the Kingswood name to make the Commodore. I can't see Australians (or Kiwis) taking it well; considering that the first 4-cylinder Commodore bombed. To be fair, it was http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/71847410/australias-worst-cars, so maybe that was why.

Posted by: ahmad Sep 14 2015, 11:50 AM
Skoda Octavia MKII Facelifted Police Car in Jerusalem.
user posted image

Posted by: Dark One Sep 18 2015, 08:58 AM
I don't mind when companies gets creative with battenburg, but I prefer when they are doing it elsewhere. We are neither United Kingdom, nor Sweden. tongue.png

Well, I know that it's hard to explain to somebody http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/109894/Masterton_-_Wellington_Free_Ambulance_-_RTW_-_421.

But at least I am still happy that http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/124736/Tromsoe_-_Universitetssykehuset_Nord-Norge_-_RTW_-_02-1.
To think that they have http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/121555/Oslo_-_Politi_-_FuStW_-_251.


QUOTE
현대자동차 주식회사 Hyeondae Jadongcha Jushikhwesa [hjə́ːndɛ]

The way we are supposed to call them now, after the decades of being simply HYUNDAI

And he can stroke his ego further, because according to latest news, Capital Police of Prague will finally get 40 new patrol cars after five years of waiting, and these will be i30 SW. Apparently, the selection procedure got contested until the right selection was made. At least i30 looks better than Elantra. tongue.png

And now I can brighten my day with this masterpiece.


Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 22 2015, 03:30 PM
I've actually never seen a Wellington Free Ambulance, because the only North Island place I've been to is Auckland.

I'm actually used to seeing http://www.111emergency.co.nz/S-W/SIAmb.htm.

I much prefer the white and green Battenburgs on a yellow ambulance; they look better than yellow and green ones. St John ambulances would look much better if they just kept the original markings and changed the yellow and green stickers to white and green after painting the vehicles yellow (technically it's chartreuse, aka ACT yellow, but anyway...).

I'm surprised that they took this long to print "Ambulance" backwards on the front.

QUOTE
At least i30 looks better than Elantra.


What would you rather have; Hyundai or Daewoo? We get Captivas over here.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 23 2015, 07:38 PM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Sep 22 2015, 06:30 PM)
I've actually never seen a Wellington Free Ambulance, because the only North Island place I've been to is Auckland.

I'm actually used to seeing these.

Oh. These are just the old school livery, I see.

Speaking of Czech struggle with the Battenburg... In Liberec, after they got rejected with the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/104739/Tanvald_-_ZZSLK_-_NEF_-_072, they also tried the bright red/yellow combination, but unfortunately that particular ambulance got into the accident, and was rewrapped into standard yellow/green livery once repaired. If I remember correctly, it looked just like http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/103033/Jablonec_nad_Nisou_-_ZZSLK_-_RTW_-_168 with the tilted chessboard, except that it was marked in RAL 3024, and it was also one of the first ambulances from Liberec with LED roof modules instead of the classic lightbar.

Also, speaking of 3024, seems that Regional Fire Brigade of Central Bohemian region decided to follow the suit, and started making all their new cars in http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/113719/Melnik_-_HZS_-_VRW just like our guys.


I am not really sure what to think about this http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8798, though.

It looks like some American production was tasked with making movie scene taking place in Germany and they didn't wanted to waste budget on the standard design, so they went with blue/white hazard stripes instead. tongue.png


QUOTE
What would you rather have; Hyundai or Daewoo? We get Captivas over here.

As much as I despise GM, I would have Chevy. Why, thank you. But we are not talking about me. tongue.png And Daewoo/Chevrolets are no longer offered in Europe, because they were in the way of recent Opel campaign. Not to mention that we can't even push Kia Cee-apostrophe-d here, because we don't have Kia factory. dry.png

Posted by: XJ220 Sep 27 2015, 02:15 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Sep 24 2015, 05:38 AM)
[...]I am not really sure what to think about this http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8798, though.

It looks like some American production was tasked with making movie scene taking place in Germany and they didn't wanted to waste budget on the standard design, so they went with blue/white hazard stripes instead. tongue.png[...]

Oh my God. That is aw... ful.

Interestingly, I moved to Bavaria recently and here they still use green instead of blue biggrin.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 27 2015, 02:55 PM
QUOTE
To think that they have best looking police cars in Europe.


Definitely! I think that must be a recent change. They used to have blue and red stripes.


I actually like that light blue German livery, but green is better. I don't see what's wrong with green stripes on silver (or white).


I didn't know the Ranger is available in mainland Europe. They're quite popular here (as all utes are).

Posted by: Dark One Oct 3 2015, 03:04 AM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Sep 27 2015, 05:15 AM)
Interestingly, I moved to Bavaria recently and here they still use green instead of blue biggrin.png

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/125348/N-PP_675_-_BMW_i3_-_FuStW_-Nuernberg.


As goes for me, I kinda like the http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8805, but they really should get rid of that dashed line.



Also, do you remember these patrol cars donated to the Detroit Police?

Well, that was then:


https://flic.kr/p/xyU8mt.

The department appreciates flashy paint scheme only when somebody else pays for it. tongue.png



QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Sep 27 2015, 05:55 PM)
Definitely!  I think that must be a recent change.  They used to have blue and red stripes.

They updated the design recently, to match Sweden. And as far as I can tell, they outclassed it greatly.

http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/119641/Koebenhavn_-_Politi_-_FuStW is meek in comparison.

QUOTE
I actually like that light blue German livery, but green is better.  I don't see what's wrong with green stripes on silver (or white).

EU trying to convince us, that green is emergency color that belongs on yellow ambulances, not white police cars.

QUOTE
I didn't know the Ranger is available in mainland Europe.  They're quite popular here (as all utes are).

Ranger is quite popular here, right after the everpresent Toyotas. Police also got some new Rangers few months ago, but there was immediately a scandal, when they "found out, that fully equipped for the bomb squad, they drain the batteries too fast". And since our officials are being paid for sitting in the chair, looking helpless, they created a ruckus, mothballed the cars until the issue is solved, and ordered the second batch for rural areas from VW. dry.png

At least there will be some variety again. tongue.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Oct 14 2015, 02:17 PM
QUOTE
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the mighty has fallen.

Oh dear. Still, it will take a long time to phase out all of their green police cars, so we'll be seeing them for a while yet.

QUOTE
Updated design of Danish police is meek in comparison.

Wow! That's much better than the old plain blue or white vehicles. I see they have kept the dotted line things (whatever they're called) on the side, like the old cars.

I preferred Sweden's pre-Battenburg livery; the white cars with blue quarter-panels.

Posted by: Dark One Nov 4 2015, 09:39 AM
And what I brought up before, becomes the reality. National police just received first batch of 64 new Skoda Octavia patrol cars from the 477 ordered, and the neighbor from Nošovice is this small. tongue.png


You can also compare the improvements made from the previous order, like newer lightbars with interactive display and convenient night mode, ever so popular dash light, sported on marked cars mainly by PMJ, additional emergency lights in the trunk, to make the car visible even when the trunk lid is lifted, and rather necessity than a feat, safe for automatic rifle in the trunk.
QUOTE

Holomý hopefully tried his best in this order, because both latest vans as well as these Ford and VW pick-ups got Whelen Liberty lightbars, while Hyundai ix35 SUVs got VAMA P5000. And just because ELVY is long gone, doesn't mean that he can sleep on his laurels.

Also, the police president (enjoying his new leather jacket tongue.png ) didn't missed the opportunity to note that this is just the beginning, as police have almost 8000 cars in their fleet, and about half of that requires replacement. So orders like this one will be only increasing in the future.

We will see next year, how that their "police special" will turn out.

Posted by: Paul Spain Nov 4 2015, 11:37 AM
QUOTE (XJ220 @ Sep 27 2015, 10:15 AM)
QUOTE (Dark One @ Sep 24 2015, 05:38 AM)
[...]I am not really sure what to think about this http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8798, though.

It looks like some American production was tasked with making movie scene taking place in Germany and they didn't wanted to waste budget on the standard design, so they went with blue/white hazard stripes instead. tongue.png[...]

Oh my God. That is aw... ful.

Interestingly, I moved to Bavaria recently and here they still use green instead of blue biggrin.png

Do you know if Saarland kept green too? I know the 2 that decided not to use blue scheme was Bavaria and Saarland but did Saarland keep with that or change? I read somewhere Bavaria will soon go to a scheme simular to Austria's.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Nov 4 2015, 03:33 PM
I just read that last year the Saarland started to change to blue uniforms. I'm not sure if that also applies to cars, but I also saw a picture of a Saarbrücken-registered Land Rover Discovery police car. The car was at least 10 years old, though, so it might have been an experiment.

Posted by: XJ220 Nov 19 2015, 09:07 AM
As far as I can tell it's either blue or green everything, no mix.

And the Saarland does at least have a few blue cruisers like http://polizeiautos.de/show_one.php?id=8342.

Posted by: Dark One Dec 3 2015, 11:54 AM
LAPD is getting with the times.



Be well, John Spartan. tongue.png



On the related note, here is one more video from the presentation on new Skoda Octavia patrol cars, this time with less panning, and better focus on gadgets. wink.png



Speaking of which, Mr. President in his leather jacket caught even attention of the mass media, especially after he got himself a mustache for Movember.



Also, http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/news/Ein-Blick-an-die-Rettungswachen-bei-unseren-tschechischen-Nachbarn-72 is something (not only) for Nils, because for people involved it was impossible not to notice that something is up.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Dec 3 2015, 04:05 PM
I heard about that LAPD i3 a while ago. It's a bit odd to see American police using European cars; like when GSP got a few BMW E36s.

user posted image

GSP's blue lights make it look a bit less odd, in my opinion. My favourite US liveries are usually the ones with blue lights.

On the other hand, European cars have been used several times in Canada over the years. The ones that stand out for me are probably the Volvo S70s used by a few forces in Québec and I think other areas as well. Mind you, they were built in Halifax, so it makes sense.


About those Czech ambulances, I see nothing wrong with their older yellow livery. I also notice that the Sprinters have raised suspension. We have one of those in Wanaka. I guess there must be more in other parts of the country as well. They would be useful for the snow and ice that we get in the south in winter. Of course, they get much more of that in Europe.

Posted by: XJ220 Dec 5 2015, 06:14 AM
The Volvo V70 and S70 were evaluated in the US as well, both CHP and OK's HP had them (probably others as well).

GA's BMWs on the other hand were gifts if I recall correctly because the Bavarians had a factory in GA back then.

As for the LAPD's i3... the only thing I like about it is the white bumper biggrin.png

Posted by: Dark One Dec 10 2015, 10:50 AM
And we definitely shall not forget about the whole fleet of http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b111/a_riot/aspenpolice.jpg



As for the ambulances, I guess that our guys are also partially to blame, because when Prague got their Tamro Mercedes ambulances in eighties, the stripe on them was almost as wide as two rows of the battenburg. And even the ones we got here in the nineties had http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/31232/Ostrava_-_USZS_MSK_-_NAW_aD themselves. Same for the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/44350/Ostrava_-_USZS_MSK_-_NAW ambulances, that were still in the service in local hospital until recently. But most of the emergency vehicles across the country only has the thin stripe, and on our newer Sprinters they downright http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/111019/Ostrava_-_USZS_MSK_-_RTW_134. So I kind of can understand, that for some people these bland wide boxes of dark green and bright yellow seems like improvement, but that still won't change a fact, that green doesn't belong, is forced upon us, and those who tried to push at least more familiar red/yellow variant got turned down. dry.png



Anyway... Yesterday I was passing by the firehouse, just as they were sending out one of their new trucks, so at least I can confirm, that we indeed have the best equipped firefighters in the country. As I saw there new http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/120572/Bilovec_-_HZS_-_KdoW, Sprinter, and as well new Tatra 815 Terrno, and 815-7 Force. All of them in the latest bright red/yellow paint scheme, https://youtu.be/7-mDE6njZRg. Quite a nice gift for the 60th anniversary of the City.

And it was quite a celebration too. https://youtu.be/p6Pct92lMIc, police cars EVERYWHERE, half of the fire brigade standing by the Christmas tree... tongue.png I should have as well make some photos myself, but I only had my vintage cellphone by me, and it's pointless to try take with that oldmobil a picture of anything, once the sun set down. dry.png

Either way, more impressive was this year maybe only celebrations of the 70 years of professional fire brigade in Ostrava, because you can't really see so many fire trucks every day.



https://youtu.be/SVAVjpaBPao



Also, on the related matter, few days ago people from the neighboring region's capital have witnessed quite a sight, when due to illness, two longtime firefighters were leaving the service at the same time, and the regional command decided to https://youtu.be/2j6ShAMB85k.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Dec 10 2015, 02:04 PM
I must say; compared to what you have in Europe, even big city fire brigades in NZ http://www.111emergency.co.nz/A-C/ChristchurchCityFB.htm.

At least we have fairly unique sirens, though. Currently we have a wail/yelp variant. Yelp is the most commonly used tone, since over here the emergency services don't normally change tones for intersections or other situations. Usually they pick a tone and stick with it.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 15 2016, 08:18 AM
Promised police special is still matter of the near future, but police is already making big deal out of their new unmarked cars, which sure took some inspiration.




And here is http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/126911/Ralsko_-_Policie_-_WLF/photo/353210/tab/outside. This time Bomb Squad from Ralsko got themselves a new toy. One of a kind truck, that will help them to deal with the mess after the explosions in Vrbětice ammunition depot.




Also, random encounter with Ford Ranger in older video from the scene of pyrotechnists diffusing partially activated grenade.


Posted by: XJ220 Jan 16 2016, 08:22 AM
Is it just me or is the unmarked Octavia's off-axis visibility extremely low? Not sure I'd want to enter an intersection with that. And why overtake the car for a traffic stop? To further decrease rearward visibility?
(not that German unmarked cruisers were exemplary when it comes to lighting equipment...)

You know, that Ranger is interesting, but I expected it to look more... exotic. Could be a VW Amarok instead, wouldn't make much difference.

That Tatra on the other hand... while similar to https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechselladersystem_Multi, still - WHAT A BEAST!

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 17 2016, 02:44 PM
You think their visibility is bad? Take a look at New Zealand:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGm_C8qG9-M

Posted by: XJ220 Jan 18 2016, 11:06 AM
O_o impressively bad ^^

I mean, it's not like German unmarked units were top-notch, but the removable beacon provides 360° visibility (more or less) and sits relatively high. And at least some units get grille lights.



https://www.youtube.com/embed/cYeSfX-j-oE

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 19 2016, 03:08 PM
A Mazda 6 ... interesting to see Japanese cars in service with European police. They must be rare, because the only other one I've seen is a marked Mitsubishi Pajero; also in Frankfurt.

At least you have diversity in Europe. Over here police cars have been almost exclusively Holdens for about 10 years. There used to be Fords, Mitsubishis, Mazdas, Nissans etc and even Subarus. There are a few unmarked Nissan Maximas around Auckland (I've only seen them on TV) and some unmarked Toyota Aurions (but I've never seen one). The off-road police cars are Isuzu D-Max utes and Daewoo Captivas, but their both sold as Holdens here.

It would be nice if we had a few Statesmans/Caprices like the Americans have. If taxi services here use them, surely the cops can. Maybe high-ranking officers could drive them.


The beacon is much better than dash lights, because you can see it from all angles.

I do like German sirens. I wish we used some over here. That being said, almost all emergency vehicle sirens used here are locally designed and made. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to get samples or even recordings of them. I don't know where the GTA guys get their samples from; but they seem to have every siren around.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 19 2016, 09:09 PM
Actually, the police president explains in the following video, that the entire system was specially designed to make the use of magnetic roof light unnecessary. And the thing with these new interior lights is that all already are flashing off-axis, because all modules are tilted.



Here for the comparison is the older type of unmarked patrol car, which already used interior lights conveniently placed to the top corners of the windshield and back window, but still carried a magnetic beacon, for the 360° visibility (though it was not used during the reportage). Also notice the English style "emergency fog lights".





As for overtaking the stopped vehicle, it was apparently done to simulate the situation, where the patrol car would just lead the offender to the nearest gas station, like on the highways. Because it really is safer both for the officers, and the incoming traffic, to perform the traffic stop from behind. And in another video from the presentation I have seen, they did just that.

Posted by: XJ220 Jan 20 2016, 08:15 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 20 2016, 07:09 AM)
Actually, the police president explains in the following video, that the entire system was specially designed to make the use of magnetic roof light unnecessary. And the thing with these new interior lights is that all already are flashing off-axis, because all modules are tilted.

And why? Last time I saw specs of a removable beacon, and that was many years ago, it could be used up to 210 kph. Should be sufficient? Besides, it still has the height advantage which I find quite important. Plus the windshield is made of glass which is highly reflective by nature thus likely to reduce the lighting's visibility depending on the weather.

QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 20 2016, 07:09 AM)
Here for the comparison is the older type of unmarked patrol car, which already used interior lights conveniently placed to the top corners of the windshield and back window, but still carried a magnetic beacon, for the 360° visibility (though it was not used during the reportage). Also notice the English style "emergency fog lights".

I must say that the separately mounted lower grille lights are a big improvement over blue fog lights IMO.

QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 20 2016, 07:09 AM)
As for overtaking the stopped vehicle, it was apparently done to simulate the situation, where the patrol car would just lead the offender to the nearest gas station, like on the highways. Because it really is safer both for the officers, and the incoming traffic, to perform the traffic stop from behind. And in another video from the presentation I have seen, they did just that.

That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation wink.png

Posted by: Dark One Jan 20 2016, 10:01 PM
It's still rather an improvement. Only Passats and Superbs of highway patrol were equipped with magnetic LED beacons. Traffic police on motorways and secondary roads was to this day using mostly older Skoda Fabia and Octavia patrol cars, with Hänsch Comet, or Federal Signal Firebolt strobe beacons. Sure, they were few years ago updated with deck, dash, and grille lights, and some newer units got lucky enough to get Movia LED beacons, like these used by the highway Passats, but rest still kept the venerable Comets.

And don't get me wrong. I like beacons like Whelen Responder, and L32. Federal Signal Volunteer (EM11H also known as S&W L11), or LM400. Or the vintage Fireball. But the truth remains, that if we were strictly going by the law here, every time before responding, one of the officers would have to get out of the car, place magnetic beacon in the middle of the roof, and only then go code 3. And that's, what the new cars are trying to solve. wink.png

For example, the Britons don't give a damn about any magnetic roof light at all. They simply throw blue lightheads to fog lights, backup lamps!! or anywhere else, where the blue color won't be obstructed, and only lately they started to use as well dash, let alone deck lights, to actually look like emergency vehicle, not some tuner returning from the meet. tongue.png

Posted by: XJ220 Jan 21 2016, 12:25 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 21 2016, 08:01 AM)
[...]But the truth remains, that if we were strictly going by the law here, every time before responding, one of the officers would have to get out of the car, place magnetic beacon in the middle of the roof, and only then go code 3. And that's, what the new cars are trying to solve. wink.png

So, the sunroof has not yet been invented in Czechia? wink.png But I think the same would apply to Germany, just that in most cases this rule is bent (or ignored). Yet - I am not talking about removing lights in favour of a beacon. Just add one.

QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 21 2016, 08:01 AM)
For example, the Britons don't give a damn about any magnetic roof light at all. They simply throw blue lightheads to fog lights, backup lamps!! or anywhere else, where the blue color won't be obstructed, and only lately they started to use as well dash, let alone deck lights, to actually look like emergency vehicle, not some tuner returning from the meet. tongue.png

The British DO use beacons from time to time: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ga132/18237272122/sizes/l/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris999/6812987207/sizes/l as two examples.

But they seem to be rather rare, agreed. Which is pretty weird considering how flashy their marked cruisers are.

IMO a pretty good example of an unmarked car (though rearward visibility is lacking) is this unmarked Dutch Golf:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjBhvNb4AXM

Posted by: Dark One Jan 22 2016, 09:35 PM
Why, indeed. And would you imagine the public uproar, in case that police would be equipping all their unmarked patrol cars with such a luxury feature as the sunroof? From the pockets of the taxpayers?! Nils, please. tongue.png

Unmarked patrol cars hare also stop the speeders only on the interior lights more than just often. The simpler days, when the officers caught by, put a bigass beacon on the roof, and overtook the speeder, while waving with the swatter out of the window, are long over. laugh.png

I even saw unmarked car with LED pancake beacon, that one of their companies is selling. But it was apparently fire chief, or something. Other than that, they literally can go just on the grille lights and siren.

Posted by: XJ220 Jan 23 2016, 03:48 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 23 2016, 07:35 AM)
Why, indeed. And would you imagine the public uproar, in case that police would be equipping all their unmarked patrol cars with such a luxury feature as the sunroof? From the pockets of the taxpayers?! Nils, please. tongue.png

Yeah, well. Can't argue with that happy.png

QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 23 2016, 07:35 AM)
Unmarked patrol cars hare also stop the speeders only on the interior lights more than just often. The simpler days, when the officers caught by, put a bigass beacon on the roof, and overtook the speeder, while waving with the swatter out of the window, are long over. laugh.png

While it's the same over here, I think the old-school style is still an option. And so much cooler cool.png

QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 23 2016, 07:35 AM)
I even saw unmarked car with LED pancake beacon, that one of their companies is selling. But it was apparently fire chief, or something. Other than that, they literally can go just on the grille lights and siren.

But then again, they're not the benchmark. They drive on the wrong side of the road, after all tongue.png

Posted by: Paul Spain Jan 23 2016, 03:26 PM
In my state most unmarked patrol vehicles have front windshield LED blinkers in red/blue or red/white/blue, grill flashers in red/blue,and rear deck lights and with them they could have alot set up there or just 2 red/blue flashers (possibilities are endless) When I was little though most had a single teardrop or HotShot gumball with flash mirror on the dash and in the back 2 HotShot gumballs with flash mirrors (ISP liked to mount these upside down on the inside of the roof LOL)

Recently I have saw something strange..I got stoped by Duquoin Metro Police (officer was in a OLD 2000-2005 Impala) it was marked our standard black/white design and had the Whelen Edge 9000 but what was odd was the side turn signals in front was red/blue strobes too huh.png then when he was done with me and I left I saw them magically return to standard turn signal lights.

Posted by: XJ220 Jan 24 2016, 04:40 AM
So he has small, almost transparent LED lightheads in them. No magic wink.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 24 2016, 03:04 PM
Over here, reverse lights on all current police cars have small LEDs in them, so they light up red and blue with the other emergency lights, but they still function as reverse lights. You may have noticed that in the video I posted earlier.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 26 2016, 06:12 PM
Few months ago, with big parade, our Hyundai dealer bossman Vošický was handing over run-out ix35s to the president of our national police force. And these were decided to participate in expeditionary mission of our policemen to secure the borders of Schengen area.



But with return of our policemen from Slovenia and Hungary, presidium found out that the small ix35 is really not the right choice for such task (and will be from now on used to its intended purpose, carrying the fat asses of precinct commanders around the neighborhood laugh.png ), and Mr. Vošicky is in meantime fighting a lawsuit, because one of his ex-dealers sued him for extorting bribes. tongue.png



But Mr. President won't give up so easily, and taking example from our Slovakian brethren, ordered the purchase of Toyota SUVs for the incoming expeditionary mission to Makedonia. So soon we might get similar sight:


Posted by: Dark One Jan 29 2016, 10:36 AM
And without further ado, here are the new patrol cars joining the ranks of Municipal Police of the Capital City Prague.



Worth of notice being the asymmetric setup of their Whelen Century lightbar.

Posted by: XJ220 Jan 30 2016, 03:37 AM
Hard to miss the asymmetry... superfluous IMO.

When I recently travelled using the German Autobahn, I saw one of the matrix advisor things in action on a squad car securing a broken down truck.

The display was trying to convey the message "move over" using arrows <<<< moving from right to left. These were almost impossible to recognize as such.

And the STOP message seen in these Whelens is even thinner...

Posted by: Dark One Jan 30 2016, 09:39 PM
Well, the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/127051/Nachod_-_Policie_-_FuStW/photo/353833 had just the tilted corner modules in their lightbars, like the first silver patrol cars with linear strobes from Holomy. The main disadvantage of these Whelen lightbars is, that these additional modules facing to the front, and to the rear, are http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/127065/Praha_-_MPP_-_5AC_4026_-_FuStW/photo/353932.

I can only say, that when they run some wall of text through that display, it will be as close they will ever get to have red/blue lightbar! laugh.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 21 2016, 09:09 PM
What's wrong with only blue? I usually prefer single-colour lightbars over blue and red combinations, unless white is an auxiliary colour, which greatly improves visibility during the day. Some colours suit certain paint schemes, including red/blue. The Vermont State Police livery is a good example.

On another subject, I have seen some of the latest NZ police cars using Code 3 X2100s instead of the NZ-made Spectra lightbars that they normally use.

In keeping with the thread title; who else loves the newer British Columbia Sheriff livery? It looks quite Alaskan, but BC does it better in my opinion. Their old livery was good, but I think this one is much better. They use red and white lights.

user posted image

For comparison, here is their old livery:

user posted image


It's a pity they don't have a Highway Patrol division like the Alberta Sheriffs do, because these cars would look awesome patrolling the roads.

Posted by: XJ220 May 22 2016, 03:41 AM
Much better indeed, the old design looks so... empty.

Posted by: Dark One May 23 2016, 04:48 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ May 22 2016, 12:09 AM)
What's wrong with only blue?  I usually prefer single-colour lightbars over blue and red combinations, unless white is an auxiliary colour, which greatly improves visibility during the day.  Some colours suit certain paint schemes, including red/blue.  The Vermont State Police livery is a good example.

Maybe it's just what I'm used to. Back in nineties, lot of http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/758/Koprivnice_-_HZSP_TATRA_-_KTW here had red/blue lightbars, regardless whether they were private or http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/31318/Trinec_-_Nemocnice_s_poliklinikou_-_NAW_aD, and some volunteer fire brigades had red/blue lightbars too, as reminder of the old days, when red actually was the distinguishing color for fire brigade. In fact, our volunteers from the City http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/127760/Havirov_-_SDH_Havirov-Mesto_-_TLF. Though I have to admit, that with Silesian bright red paint scheme it would look awkward. tongue.png

Our http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/127265/Kolin_-_Policie_-_FuStW_-_3SU_6953 also would look bit busy with red added to the lightbars, but it might actually work when arranged to BRRB, like on the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/37155/Budapest_-_Rendorseg_-_FuStW.

QUOTE
On another subject, I have seen some of the latest NZ police cars using Code 3 X2100s instead of the NZ-made Spectra lightbars that they normally use.

Lately I've seen many police forces all around the world switching from whatever they were using before, to Code3. Must be good marketing, or something. laugh.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 23 2016, 08:12 PM
That first ambulance looks really cool ... because it's a Tatra cool.png.

Some ambulances and fire engines in the US use red/blue; like Australia, who use red/blue on pretty much everything.

I actually think that the current Czech police cars wouldn't suit red/blue, due to their paint scheme.


I discovered something interesting today: in the 1980s (and earlier), some NZ city councils were responsible for traffic policing within their boundaries (as opposed to the Ministry of Transport). I think it would be a great idea to do that again; as it would take some weight off the Police. I guess it would be like the Integrated Traffic Units that they have in Canada.

Posted by: XJ220 Jun 3 2016, 08:45 AM
Just a little heads-up: I updated the way YouTube videos are being embedded to use the recommended way.

No action on your side required, just use the [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE] tags like you are used to.

Let me know if you run into problems.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 20 2016, 02:28 AM
I saw something interesting on TV yesterday. It was a NZ police car seen in a local news report. It had the same Nautech Spectra lightbar as the others, but the light configuration was different: seen from the back, the setup was B-R-B -- R-B-R. There were two police cars with that setup, but neither was seen from the front, so I don't know if it was the same. Both cars were older VE Commodores, so I don't know if it's the new format. I hope it is, because I like unusual setups like that biggrin.png.

Posted by: Paul Spain Sep 20 2016, 11:47 AM
I just looked these lightbars up, They look simular to the LED lightbars I've seen in my city in use by the local,state,and county agencies.

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14212108_10207249942951811_1770042576550074158_n.jpg?oh=bd82caf7a4f8b234d0afc167ff4f2201&oe=58860CE3

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14233159_10207228820023751_3864559736825852355_n.jpg?oh=6add9273f3f9d45754a0e7e2a6ca8cdf&oe=586EF655

Except they don't have the big mounting legs like these it seems.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 20 2016, 08:09 PM
The lightbars in those pics are Federal Signal Legends. They do look similar.

Nautech is a Kiwi company that makes all sorts of lighting systems. They also make the sirens used by the police. The lightbar and siren controls are integrated into a compact control panel, which will work with any lightbar; like the MX7000s that the police used before LEDs. You can really only get their products in Oceania.

Recently, the police are getting Code 3 X2100s for their cars. I saw one of those today.

By the way, regarding the light setup I mentioned earlier; it looked like this:

user posted image

... except it was the other way round. The red is on the right-hand side here, like on MDSP cars. Of course, the Spectra's main body is clear, so you don't notice it until the lights are on dry.png.

Posted by: Dark One Dec 15 2016, 08:23 PM
It's been a while since I had something new for this topic (or rather, I stockpiled lot of random things, but never got to post them dry.png), but since our wise and competent police president is done restructuring the elite units of our criminal police (SKPV) into "Czech FBI", and feeling sorry over (getting caught) going excessive speed (code 1) on the highway near Ostrava, it's the time again, to make some use of the taxpayers money, and get some new toys under the Christmas tree. laugh.png

And while I still am not sure what is going to be the hundred of cars, that will be purchased by the end of the year in special regime without the selection procedure (maybe finally these promised patrol specials), we already got about hundred new BMW motorbikes for the traffic police.



And also the fastest police cars in our country (that I am eagerly awaiting any new pictures of), ten marked Audi S6 escort cars for the protective service, that already got spotted few days ago while leaving the local Audi dealer.

In meantime, have one http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/125476/Cerveny_Kostelec_-_Mestska_Policie_-_FuStW_-_5H4_0878 of the municipal police. It is still apparent, where it came from. wink.png

Posted by: Paul Spain Dec 16 2016, 08:34 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Dec 16 2016, 04:23 AM)
It's been a while since I had something new for this topic (or rather, I stockpiled lot of random things, but never got to post them dry.png), but since our wise and competent police president is done restructuring the elite units of our criminal police (SKPV) into "Czech FBI", and feeling sorry over (getting caught) going excessive speed (code 1) on the highway near Ostrava, it's the time again, to make some use of the taxpayers money, and get some new toys under the Christmas tree. laugh.png

And while I still am not sure what is going to be the hundred of cars, that will be purchased by the end of the year in special regime without the selection procedure (maybe finally these promised patrol specials), we already got about hundred new BMW motorbikes for the traffic police.



And also the fastest police cars in our country (that I am eagerly awaiting any new pictures of), ten marked Audi S6 escort cars for the protective service, that already got spotted few days ago while leaving the local Audi dealer.

In meantime, have one http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/125476/Cerveny_Kostelec_-_Mestska_Policie_-_FuStW_-_5H4_0878 of the municipal police. It is still apparent, where it came from. wink.png

Do you have a good digital camera? If so why not just take pics of them "fastest police cars" your self? Or do they keep them hid somewhere?

Posted by: Dark One Dec 17 2016, 05:53 PM
As I already told you, these cars left the local dealer few days ago. So by now they are indeed keeping them out of the sight, wrapped with the ribbon. Perhaps to reveal along with some other event.

From the pics that are available on the internet so far, this is the only decent one:

Posted by: NFS Police Force Dec 17 2016, 08:10 PM
Hum I maybe able to edit one if I know what kind of Audi car it is ?

Posted by: Paul Spain Dec 17 2016, 08:44 PM
I'd try GameModels.Ru for that, I don't think any of the other sites I hit have something that new yet.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Dec 18 2016, 03:15 PM
It's an S6. Since it's a new model, it might be a while before someone makes a good model. Then again, games.reveur.de gets models of brand new cars for a few games.

I'd need to know what the lightbar is if I wanted to make an accurate model.

Speaking of lightbars, I found out why the NZ Police are switching to Code 3: they have a new outfitter. The latest patrol cars are outfitted by the Wade Group, who also make ambulances. Previously, Nautech did the cars. I'm pretty sure the cars still use Nautech sirens.

I think it's a good change, since the Nautech Spectra lightbars are not very bright, especially when compared with the new X2100. I've seen both of them in action. However, this means that we're not getting the different light setup that I mentioned earlier sad.png.

By the way, has anyone heard of Code 3's new Pursuit lightbar? It looks quite cool and it's very bright. Here's the official video:



The only problem I can see is the 135° area lights that also flash; since some places (like NZ) don't allow white lights visible from the rear (apart from reverse lights and number-plate lights).

Apart from that, it's a pretty sweet-looking lightbar.

user posted image

Posted by: NFS Police Force Dec 18 2016, 05:17 PM
It really sweet . biggrin.png You can do so much with that lightbar .

Posted by: Paul Spain Dec 19 2016, 12:39 PM
Looks like Code3 Copied Whelen Justice (Justice is what a few Duquoin MetroPolice and most Illinois State Police vehicles has where I live, Rest of the city police are using OLD Whelen Edge 9000)

Posted by: Dark One Dec 20 2016, 04:44 PM
It seems to me, that they just waited for some nice date to reveal the cars.

In any case, Tuesday 20th December 2016, chief of the protective service, general Komorous (more famous as former commander of our DEA), introduced the ten fastest cars that Czech police ever had. Audi S6 4.0 TFSI quattro "operative police special", with twin-turbo V8 engine offering 420 HP, and able to go from 0 to 100kmh under five seconds, with maximal speed locked on the 250kmh.



With these cars entering the service, I wouldn't even be surprised, if the planned "police specials" will be based on the Skoda Superb in the end. Considering that entry model costs 1/4 of the price, even if they will be given the max spec 2.0 TSI 4X4 (as the V6 is unfortunately no longer offered for Superb), we are still somewhere else.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Dec 21 2016, 06:19 PM
biggrin.png Cool! I can only dream of the NZP Highway Patrol having cars like that. Unfortunately, they would be considered "too dangerous" (not for the officers driving them, though; for the drunk youths who would try to outrun them and crash huh.png dry.png).

Do you know what those lightbars are? They look a bit like the Whelen Justice, but I'm not sure. It's interesting that only the ends have coloured lenses, while the rest of the bar is clear, even though it all lights up blue.

Posted by: Dark One Dec 22 2016, 04:18 AM
These http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/133479/Praha_-_Policie_-_xAx_xxxx_-_FuStW/photo/382786 are just for the show, so once Trump visits the Czechia, his Cadillac won't get accompanied by http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/104562.

As for the lightbar, it's http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/120572/Bilovec_-_HZS_-_KdoW/tab/detail/photo/318617#detail our regional fire brigade is using. Pretty much just HazTec Xpert built under the license by Holomy Electronics. And it's only natural, than just the corner lenses are colored, because even though these cars will rarely direct traffic by themselves, they should be still equipped with amber traffic advisor to the rear by default.

Posted by: UnumProvident101 Dec 22 2016, 08:10 AM
I heard that in the future that the Red Bank police department will be getting rid of their 7 vw passats and will be replacing the 7 patrol cars with 2017 ford interceptor suvs

according to this link http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/30251471/red-bank-pd-getting-rid-of-vw-passats-as-patrol-cars

Posted by: Dark One Dec 25 2016, 07:17 AM
It is the Christmas time. Some firefighters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2AqYrGyNnQ replacing their aged Avia, some have their own https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XleAXuxaVuE, and from what I heard, according to the planned changes in legislature, professional fire brigade will be getting their https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lk9PHl22GQ by default, while volunteers that were not lucky enough to get their new ride yet, will have to go with the standard red.

On the related matter, EMS of the Capital City of Prague http://www.technikaizs.cz/products/nove-vozy-pro-zzshmp/, and their design kinda http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/2854/Praha_-_ZZSHMP_-_112_-_Schwerlast-RTW for sake of integrating the mandatory battenburg marking.

Which unfortunately marks the end to the traditional use of yellow cars with bright red stripes in the country, as even our regional EMS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zL0fUKINWk, though retaining some elements from the previous paint scheme. And neighboring Olomouc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLKlKZL1HxE.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Dec 27 2016, 02:46 PM
I don't think VW will ever get all of their trust back. People might even be suspicious of diesel fuel in general, since it naturally produces more nitrous oxide than petrol (NOx is more of a concern than carbon dioxide).

BMW makes really good Passat alternatives; Red Bank PD could look to them. They'll be more reliable and more fuel-efficient than Fords, not to mention faster.

On the subject of fire engines, the NZFS is testing a new http://www.111emergency.co.nz/J-M/KDL84.htm tender, made in Germany on an Iveco chassis. It looks quite smart. However, as cool as the integrated emergency lights are, I don't think they'll have as much visibility as the split 6-pod FedSig Vectors that are currently used.

The strange thing about it is, it uses a FedSig PA300 siren! They should have used the German air horns in my opinion; they're much more noticeable.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 1 2017, 08:26 PM
VW was just the tip of the iceberg, and nowadays it's not even true anymore that they are the only ones who got caught, but it will cost them dearly.

The fire truck looks interesting, but I never was the fan of these integrated lights myself.

Speaking of the BMW, I really like how http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/132325/N-PP_2419_-_BMW_318d_-_FuStW/photo/378673 again. Surprisingly modern and refreshing take on the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/133747/H-PD_705_-_VW_Passat_Variant_-_FuStW/photo/383495.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 2 2017, 01:22 AM
Very cool! It might've been nicer if they still used green, but oh well, blue and yellow look really nice together anyway cool.png.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 9 2017, 04:25 PM
It's happening! Not even Germany is safe now! http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/133954/BRK_-_Prototyp_Bayern-RTW_2017/photo/384520. ph34r.png

On the other hand, Sweden finally got new pike in the pond, following the demise of https://www.flickr.com/photos/liftarn/5607354126. Nothing against V70, but this is another league. laugh.png


Posted by: Paul Spain Jan 10 2017, 12:47 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jan 2 2017, 04:26 AM)
VW was just the tip of the iceberg, and nowadays it's not even true anymore that they are the only ones who got caught, but it will cost them dearly.

The fire truck looks interesting, but I never was the fan of these integrated lights myself.

Speaking of the BMW, I really like how http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/132325/N-PP_2419_-_BMW_318d_-_FuStW/photo/378673 again. Surprisingly modern and refreshing take on the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/133747/H-PD_705_-_VW_Passat_Variant_-_FuStW/photo/383495.

Does the Bayern Polizei still wear the army green tunics and brown shirt and pants or did they go to black and dark blue?

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 11 2017, 06:58 PM
They did; https://www.innenministerium.bayern.de/sus/polizei/neueuniform/index.php in fact.

I have to say, that Polis V70 is awesome! Unfortunately, European cars (especially Volvos) are generally too expensive here to even be considered as patrol cars. However, the next Commodore will be a re-badged Opel, which means we will finally get a German police car fleet biggrin.png; since the police are keeping their contract with Holden.

Posted by: Paul Spain Jan 12 2017, 01:00 PM
mellow.png huh.png Did I miss something here? The Bavaria police are missing the trademark black/red/gold bull'seye cockade that goes on their visor hats..I guess they nixed that thing too dry.png BUT that was what made German police visor hats unique sad.png .

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 15 2017, 01:54 AM
The retro bug seems to be contagious. The Repentigny Police Service in Québec has just painted a new Charger in their old livery for their 60th anniversary this year.

This is one of their old cars:

user posted image

... And this is the new Charger:

user posted image

user posted image

They even used the same door number as the old car!

Their normal livery looks really good too:

user posted image

It would be cool if the NZ police did that. If they copied the RCMP and did two retro liveries, the first would be a plain grey car with a red Hella beacon (the 70s) and the second would be a plain white car with two blue FedSig beacons in a makeshift VisiBar setup (the 80s), unless they went the extra mile and got real VisiBars laugh.png. For the lighting, I don't think they'd go that far; they'd probably just put the old light patterns on their new Code 3 X2100s.

Sadly, they're not really interested in that sort of thing dry.png.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 15 2017, 02:35 PM
As for the Holden, I would prefer myself if they went Buick, rather than becoming just another Vauxhall, but it can't be helped. At least GM didn't axed it, like they did with Pontiac and SAAB. dry.png

As for the Charger, that white stripe would look better if it was higher, like on the Caprice. But the straight line doesn't work well with the Charger design in the first place. It's still nice to see they are putting some effort into it though.

QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Jan 12 2017, 04:00 PM)
mellow.png  huh.png  Did I miss something here? The Bavaria police are missing the trademark black/red/gold bull'seye cockade that goes on their visor hats..I guess they nixed that thing too dry.png BUT that was what made German police visor hats unique sad.png .

That's Bavaria you are talking about. I'm pretty sure they didn't had the cockade on their hats with the green uniform either, just the star.

So to speak, here is the http://bos-fahrzeuge.info/news/Aus-gruen-wird-blau-Das-Ende-einer-Aera-112.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Feb 7 2017, 01:50 AM
I do wonder if the NZ Police will use the new Commodore. I heard that BMW put in the lowest tender price a few years ago for a 5-series fleet, but the police thought that the public wouldn't like them, so they stuck with Holden huh.png. I certainly would never have guessed that BMWs would be cheaper than Holdens!

Then again, I'm kinda biased because I like European cars biggrin.png. It would be awesome to see the police using them; after all, the ambulances are mostly Mercedes-Benzes and the fire engines are generally Ivecos and Scanias!

Posted by: Paul Spain Feb 7 2017, 12:45 PM
For me I wish they'd stick to lightbars, This new LED crap is just not as nice looking, They love them though cause it's almost invisible and they can sneak up on ya tongue.png. laugh.png .

Give me a good ole VisiBar,AeroDynic,TwinSonic,Whelen 8000,Whelen Edge 9000,JetSonic,Smith&Wesson,Code 3 MX7000,or Code 3 LoPro any ole day biggrin.png wink.png.

For German things Hella RTK series 1-6 .

Posted by: BrabusAMG Feb 9 2017, 01:17 PM
You'll like this, then:



I just found it a few minutes ago. I don't like the "rotating" imitation much, but it's a cool idea.

I don't much like the clear LED lightbars either; they make it a bit hard to know the lightbars colours when making mods tongue.png. I also think that coloured lenses increase visibility. If the police are giving their cars bright, reflective markings to increase visibility, why not have coloured lightbars? I think it's really cool that the NYSP still uses them biggrin.png.

By the way, a detective TV series was made in New Zealand recently; a couple of the prop cars used LP6000s happy.png, even though they were late models.

Posted by: slego9 Feb 9 2017, 02:41 PM
Cool idea for sure. I have personally always liked clear light bars... not sure why though. maybe its because they just look very modern. LED lightbars in general are cool and although I do like this idea something just does not seem right.

Posted by: Dark One Feb 12 2017, 09:53 PM
Interesting. For a moment I thought that they are Canadian agency too. laugh.png

As for the 'rotating' LEDs, it's not as impressive as Vision SLR, but the price will definitely be elsewhere. wink.png
And here in Europe we already have the experience with moving LED light thanks to French legislature.

Posted by: Dark One Apr 14 2017, 01:43 AM
And it's here! The new purpose-built police special, that our dear police president was talking about, is finally here! laugh.png

















Well, actually it's just Czech BMW doing the same thing as the other dealerships around the world, and lending these cars to the police for free as part of self-promotion. cool.png

Posted by: Dark One Apr 18 2017, 12:55 PM
It seems that Vošický heard my previous rants, and strikes back. So there will be even more variety... And I will have to deal with his smug mug for a while... Because the next patrol car of the national police will become the Hyundai Tucson. Eight hundreds of them! wacko.gif

Ironically enough, the initial selection was for six hundreds of sedan, hatchback and/or combi patrol cars. But when Hyundai outbid Skoda by offering the Tucson with 70% discount, it not only blown Skoda out of the water, but police presidium decided to actually make use of it, and ordered two hundred more. dry.png

I am afraid that this pretty much killed any plans that our police president might have had with the so called "police special", unless Skoda can come up with something like offering the Superb for the price of Fabia, or whatever... sleep.png

For Hyundai it was quite bold move though. While they are now facing the lawsuit filed by Skoda, for offering the unspecified vehicle, for what is clearly a dumping price, contract got signed already, and now we will see these cars everywhere. Not to mention that Vošický killed two birds with one stone, because while the Tucson will be initially replacing the Octavia patrol cars bought in the past ten years, it will also become strong argument against any potential purchase of new Skoda SUVs in the near future. mad.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Apr 18 2017, 02:53 PM
I've driven a brand-new Tucson, they're actually pretty good. It was only a short drive, so I didn't have a chance to get used to it (and it was part of an advanced driving course so I wasn't concentrating on the car); but first impressions were good.

At least the Czech police are being thrifty with public money. As I mentioned earlier, BMW recently offered the NZ Police a lower tender than Holden, but the police stayed with Holden anyway, even though they're not really great cars. I guess they'll have no choice next time biggrin.png, unless "Holden"(Opel) offers an even lower price.

Then again, Since Opel and Vauxhall are about to be sold to PSA, I wonder what will become of the 2018 Commodore (and the Astra and Insignia), since Opel designed and built them?

Posted by: Dark One Apr 18 2017, 04:38 PM
Tucson is a swan in comparison to the ugly duckling that was the ix35, but I'm still mad that Vošický just keep getting away with being pain in the ass. dry.png


Skoda still have all the right to contest that contract. Not that it will help them in any way, except that Hyundai would get a nice fine imposed on them. tongue.png

And for Hyundai it was purely marketing move. Matter of prestige. Not only they are replacing the Skoda as main police car on the home market, they also literally make sure that Skoda won't get any chance to offer their new SUVs to the national police anytime soon.

Posted by: Dark One May 10 2017, 05:29 PM
You've already heard from me about the BMW i3 lend to the police for six months long promotion. But there is actually eleven of them, and not all these ended up with the national police.









What is definitely going to end up in the national police though, is this BMW i8 supercar, that was loaned to the traffic police service in South Moravia, and will be actually seen on the highways down there for the rest of this year. Now, that's what I call promotion. happy.png

user posted image


On related matter, it seems that CHP got cured from the SUV fad, as they decided to not renew their contract with Ford, and all new patrol cars this year are going to be Dodge Chargers. cool.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 10 2017, 07:30 PM
Awesome! Pity they're only getting it for six months dry.png.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 18 2017, 06:08 AM
Actually, they didn't have it even for a month. 30th of May, the police BMW i8 got into accident, after leaving the road, hitting a tree, and ending up in near pond. Driver was hospitalized after suffering a stroke, but along with him was taken to the hospital also high ranking official of the presidential protocol. And this 'bashaw ride' was actually approved by the regional director of police. dry.png

It's pity though. Now it's the time of police days all around the country, and the supercar won't be there. mad.png And even if they will by able to put it back on the road by the end of this year, they still won't have it for long enough to show up next summer. It will be small miracle, if they would have it ready for the NATO days in September. sleep.png

But to not be all negative all the time, fire brigade at the Prague Airport of Vaclav Havel just got new Panther crash tenders, and they were delivered in familiar airport yellow, rater than the standard fire red.



And the municipal police of the capital city of Prague was actually present at the IDET military and security fair this year, showing their newest vehicles (namely Ford Rangers for K9 and river police, Hyundai Tucsons for remote locations, and pair of Sprinters for K9 and horse unit) in celebration of the 25 years of their existence.


Posted by: BrabusAMG Jun 19 2017, 09:02 PM
That's embarrassing. I hope the driver recovers from his stroke. From what I've read, that's what caused the accident, is that right?

Interesting municipal vehicles there. One thing intrigues me: how many remote areas can there be in Prague? I'm guessing that the region's borders go a fair way beyond the city?

Actually there's another thing that intrigues me: I find it interesting that the term "K-9" is used over there; since it's a play on words that only works in English tongue.png. In fact, we don't even use that term here, even though NZ is a majority English-speaking country. We call them "Dog Units".

Posted by: Dark One Jun 27 2017, 03:33 PM
I saw some photos already, and both the front and the rear end got damaged. But at least the car got released to the dealership, and police will be getting a new one this week. ph34r.png

Prague is the largest city in the country. You bet there must be plenty of places hard to reach with normal patrol car. And there might also be cases of surrounding communities and small towns, that are far away of nearest national police detachment, and can't afford their own local police force, so they contracted Prague instead.

And K9 is quite common here. After all, it's from Latin "canina", and Latin used to be official language around here for centuries. Or maybe we just want to be blatantly western. tongue.png

Posted by: Paul Spain Jun 28 2017, 12:25 PM
By far the cheapest way to go is just to give ALL police national/federal standard and this was finally proposed in my country during the outbreak of unrest
some years back at Ferguson and Baltimore but was shot down by voters. HAD it been done though our police would all be the same and not have some 80
or close to it police forces here..
They likely would have went with a simple to do plain but
visible design saving tax payer money in the long run.

Anyway I have a new fav scheme and also to report
something I didn't know until recently..
Even though the Russkies and Ukrainians dropped
Militia as police it still lives on in 7 other places.:

Abkhazia,Belarus,Kyrgystan,South Ossetia,
Tajikistan,Transnistria (it would there since
they refused to recognize U.S.S.R. died and
the woman ruling the place opted to keep things
Soviet style there so Militia lives on along with a
newer modified U.S.S.R. seal on the vehicles, laugh.png. )
and Uzebekistan.

My new fav being Uzebekistan due to their scheme having green in it,
Green is just so lovely to me being my favorite color and all..
However I must say I find their word for Militia (МUЛUЦUИЯ)
appears no where on the vehicles..See here..Oh did I forget to
mention they got alot of the older Chargers there in use ohmy.png biggrin.png
along with "the happy police car" Chery QQ laugh.png.

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While most countries still using Militia as police stick to the modern
ДПС as their Highway Patrol I found South Ossetia is using both
ДПС and the OLD ГАИ to designate Highway Patrol units.:
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Transnistria in a world all it's own with it's Modernized Soviet police
,Needless to say Highway patrol there is ГАИ laugh.png .:
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Posted by: Paul Spain Jun 28 2017, 12:39 PM
Continued (since we have a stupid image amount per post limit mad.png )

More Transnistria:

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For You DarkOne laugh.png .

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Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 1 2017, 03:29 AM
Could you have possibly found a bigger pic of that Uzbek Lada? tongue.png

Interesting pictures. I never really thought about police cars in states with limited recognition. Now I'm enlightened happy.png.



On another subject, today (1 July) is the date when the Fire Service's biggest re-structure takes effect. All urban and rural fire authorities will now be merged into one entity; called "Fire and Emergency New Zealand". It will eliminate confusion regarding jurisdiction; like what happened in Christchurch earlier in the year. Fire brigades took longer to respond because they were trying to figure out who had jurisdiction over which areas (bureaucracy in action dry.png).

I wonder if they'll come up with a new standardised vehicle livery. That might be interesting.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 24 2017, 02:27 AM
Apparently, the Sűreté du Québec have just come up with a new scheme:

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I don't like it dry.png; mainly because it's black and white. They could have gone back to the old brown and yellow livery; that would have been interesting. Now it's just bland.

Posted by: MNaeemi777 Jul 24 2017, 07:03 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jul 24 2017, 05:27 AM)
Apparently, the Sűreté du Québec have just come up with a new scheme:

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I don't like it dry.png; mainly because it's black and white. They could have gone back to the old brown and yellow livery; that would have been interesting. Now it's just bland.

In my opinion, its livery wasn't interesting (More like just a stick on the car). They should paint the car with same brown and yellow. Would be better.

Posted by: slego9 Jul 24 2017, 09:32 AM
As a Canadian (that can speak some french) I hate it. I really have never liked much of Québec in general I was there again in march, I guess I don't like Québec for the polotics more then anything. most of the people there are quite nice. Not all are fans of English People but I somewhat get that. and back to the design I haven't quite figured out why I hate it. I think it has alot to do with all of the coulors that just don't really work, it also just seems... a bit odd I guess.

Posted by: Dark One Sep 15 2017, 02:47 AM
That new Quebec paint scheme is really unimpressive. Utilitarian even. tongue.png

Unfortunately, "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsoYiOvtPKA" of our municipal police spawned vocal opposition, and current mayor of Lázně Bohdaneč already kicked out the old team, keeping only the newest of their patrol Chargers, replacing the remaining Intrepid with https://www.ford-autoin.cz/Novinky/Detail/1153/auto-in-dodal-mestske-policii-specialne-upraveny-ford-kuga (the run-out model, of course), and revoking the contract with the town of Chvaletice. Mayor of Chvaletice didn't liked that outcome though, and sheltered the fired officers under the newly formed municipal police of Chvaletice. So, The Legend Continues. laugh.png

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This particular Charger is the same that was serving in Nové Město until it got replaced by pre-facelift Octavia II. Since then it got updated with Whelen Justice lightbar.

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And municipal police of Opatovice replaced their Intrepid with Hyundai i30.


Posted by: Dark One Sep 18 2017, 10:02 AM
On related matter, Colorado State Patrol already https://flic.kr/p/KcEC7D few times in the past years.

This being their latest design:

https://flic.kr/p/WfY84f
https://flic.kr/p/WfY84f by https://www.flickr.com/photos/61458000@N03/, on Flickr

And Pennsylvania State Police also recently changed their design notably:


Posted by: MNaeemi777 Oct 25 2017, 01:29 AM
Say hello to Police Mustang of Barricades:
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This is a one of cool sport cop cars I've ever saw. Beauty color, beauty spoiler, and something else that don't need to be said. It's as beautiful as Copzilla.

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But I like Copzilla more than Mustang. However, I'm Nissan fan. smile.png

Posted by: Dark One Jan 18 2018, 11:49 AM
Now, this is what I call rare:



Meanwhile, Hungarian police is switching from VAMA to HELLA lightbars:



Also, as I already mentioned before, Hyundai won the contract for about 800 new patrol cars with their Tucson model in April last year. But thanks to lawsuit from Skoda, the deal stalled until July, and when police received first hundred of them, there was no official presentation, just few "spy shots" of cars being loaded onto the carrier, or actually https://www.flickr.com/photos/32718655@N08/25326697908/. Now, the police is apparently hesitating to proceed with the contract, instead getting twenty new https://www.flickr.com/photos/32718655@N08/39582952661 SUVs for the missions abroad, and twenty of Skoda Superb unmarked interceptors for highway patrol (I just wish these were actually marked ones, as promissed by director of traffic corps last year dry.png ).

Posted by: Dark One Mar 18 2018, 09:28 AM
Chicago police is picking up new rides:


And getting rid of their old design:


Meanwhile http://www.auto-mag.info/actualites/volkswagen-e-golf-passat-gte-police-paris.

Posted by: Southpaw217 Apr 6 2018, 09:19 AM
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Jun 28 2017, 03:25 PM)
By far the cheapest way to go is just to give ALL police national/federal standard and this was finally proposed in my country during the outbreak of unrest some years back at Ferguson and Baltimore but was shot down by voters. HAD it been done though our police would all be the same and not have some 80
or close to it police forces here..
They likely would have went with a simple to do plain but
visible design saving tax payer money in the long run.

Where did you hear this? Got a link?

Posted by: Paul Spain Apr 6 2018, 01:30 PM
QUOTE (Southpaw217 @ Apr 6 2018, 05:19 PM)
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Jun 28 2017, 03:25 PM)
By far the cheapest way to go is just to give ALL police national/federal standard and this was finally proposed in my country during the outbreak of unrest some years back at Ferguson and Baltimore but was shot down by voters. HAD it been done though our police would all be the same and not have some 80
or close to it police forces here..
They likely would have went with a simple to do plain but
visible design saving tax payer money in the long run.

Where did you hear this? Got a link?

It was discussed on a radio show I used to listen to before the host went elsewhere to another station, the show was Overnight America, The show is still on but I don't listen no more for 2 reasons, Most of the time when it's on I'm at work and 2nd is it lost it's charm when the original host Jon Grayson left, He really knew how to cut things up and make you laugh yet also be serious on debates.

Posted by: Paul Spain Apr 6 2018, 02:28 PM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Mar 18 2018, 05:28 PM)
Chicago police is picking up new rides:


And getting rid of their old design:


Meanwhile http://www.auto-mag.info/actualites/volkswagen-e-golf-passat-gte-police-paris.

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That does look nice and as for Chicago, Putting the real CPD star on their vehicle and not just a silver plain star with CAPS brings back memories of when the vehicles was painted blue/white with it being a blue vehicle with white front doors,roof,and trunk.

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Posted by: BrabusAMG Apr 7 2018, 12:47 AM
I do like the new retro look for Paris. I saw a video of it responding recently; they're even using a wail siren on top of the regulation French police siren:




Chicago's new design looks cool. I see they've used the Battenburg design taken from their hats.

Posted by: Dark One May 3 2018, 01:28 AM
Only thing that can improve that video would be having this as the background music for it:


Still would be interesting to see that design adopted nation-wide. I would actually prefer Renault Fluence as police car in Paris, but Europeans consider sedans impractical, so the closest thing would be new Megane. Maybe Peugeot 508 would do that livery some justice. Or they can outright https://theautomobilist.fr/actualite/berline-break-monospace/police-nationale-bientot-dotee-de-skoda-octavia-combi-165334.

Posted by: AJ_Lethal May 24 2018, 03:00 PM
So traffic officers got new units with a somewhat cooler livery:
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Posted by: Dark One Aug 3 2018, 12:45 PM
It does look cooler than what they were using before.


In other news, Kanton Sarajevo in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was first to adopt new design for their police cars:



And in comparison, EURO-friendly update for police of Republic of Srpska:



Second one actually reminding me promo video of Georgian police from few years back, before they went full Hawaii.



Speaking of Georgia, they really love to change paint scheme on their patrol cars every now and often. Their NYPD design used on Skoda Octavia patrol cars, and their OCP (Toronto) design from Ford Interceptor delivery being obsolete now, they kind of look like Israeli police with their https://i.imgur.com/Eoeb0Pl.jpg.



Also, thanks to change in legislature, it will be legal (again) to use combination of red and blue in lightbar for emergency services in Czech Republic. Kinda late in the day, but at least we may be able to see more like this in near future:


Posted by: BrabusAMG Sep 4 2018, 01:26 AM
This year must be good for design updates. While travelling, I recently saw a brand-new ZB Commodore police car on a transporter truck. The lightbar is new; it's all silver with no coloured top. I couldn't quite tell what make it was. But the first thing I noticed was a slight change in the livery. The biggest change was that the POLICE lettering is now bilingual, with "Pirihimana" (the Māori word for "Police") written underneath.

Sadly, I couldn't get a photo sad.png. I'll try to get one the next time I see the car.

I must say, those Costa Rican Hiluxes look really smart in dark blue cool.png.

Posted by: Dark One Jan 19 2019, 09:24 AM
And here we have fresh off the presses, a new entry to the fleet (except that it's actually ten years old tongue.png ) 2009 Audi RS6, that got confiscated from the previous owner, and since no other agency wanted it, it ended up with South Moravian traffic division. So it overnight became the fastest Czech police car (that is actually owned by the police). It's also first car that is entering the service with updated red/blue lightbar:

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My only gripe is the tiny lettering, that is almost the size of magnetic tabs used on https://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/147678/Praha_-_Policie_-_5AY_8153_-_FuStW:

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Kinda strange, when even the https://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/140047/Praha_-_Policie_-_1A5_8083_-_FuStW are using almost the same size of lettering as the https://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/143455/Praha_-_Policie_-_5AE_4196_-_FuStW.

Posted by: Dark One Mar 21 2019, 11:02 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Sep 4 2018 @ 04:26 AM)
brand-new ZB Commodore police car

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ambodavenz/30192817447/in/photostream/

As goes for VWs in service of Paris Police Prefecture, it's apparently not just a matter of using "green" patrol cars in capital city of France, but rather a gesture, to bolster the alliance between France and Germany. And https://de.motor1.com/photos/653930/vw-fahrzeuge-fur-die-polizei-in-paris/ to refresh their fleet.

Also, it seems that our traffic police got a thing for reusing older cars for the highway patrol. This time it's the car previously used by no one else that the former police president himself, and while Lieutenant general Tuhý left the police service, and became Czech ambassador in Slovakia, his car will now catch car thieves and smugglers in Hradec Králové Region (Königgrätz).


And in relation to return of red/blue lightbars in use of core emergency services in Czechia, here is the video from October, introducing the change to public:


Posted by: Paul Spain Mar 21 2019, 12:57 PM
Isn't Srpskaa just Serbia? Anyway I always found it funny how when using Cyrillic they switch back to English lettering on the J, I guess Cyrillic don't have a J, Meanwhile old Jugoslavia (Bosnia and Croatia now) prefer to stick to English alphabet vs Cyrillic. happy.png

My city recently sold off most of their fleet, They now are going to Ford Explorers and Dodge Chargers, Impalas were sold off and likely Ford CrownVics will follow them soon. sad.png We still have yet to get the Ford Taurus police car even though the State Police have some and we never did get the Aussie Caprices either even though State Police got them too. sad.png mad.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Mar 22 2019, 10:30 PM
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Mar 22 2019, 08:57 AM)
Isn't Srpskaa [sic] just Serbia?

Yes, it is. Cyrillic does have a j, it's й, or "short i"; I'm not sure why the Yugoslav languages use j instead. Maybe they thought it was more noticeable? I've always like Cyrillic script, that's why I taught myself to read it. happy.png

By the way, it's not the "English Alphabet", it's the "Roman Alphabet" or "Latin Alphabet", because it was invented by the Romans for the Latin language (but they borrowed a few letters from Greek).

QUOTE (Dark One @ Mar 22 2019, 07:02 AM)
There you go.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I still haven't seen one in person yet. Judging from that photo, it looks like they're using the Federal Signal Integrity now, instead of the Code 3. I've always thought FedSig made brighter lights than anyone else, so it's nice to see them on cop cars now. biggrin.png

Hmm ... those new Czech cruisers made me think: it would be awesome if the NZ Government's fleet of BMW 7 Series were donated to the Police when they get replaced! laugh.png

Posted by: Dark One May 1 2019, 11:06 AM
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Mar 21 2019, 03:57 PM)
Isn't Srpskaa just Serbia? Anyway I always found it funny how when using Cyrillic they switch back to English lettering on the J, I guess Cyrillic don't have a J, Meanwhile old Jugoslavia (Bosnia and Croatia now) prefer to stick to English alphabet vs Cyrillic. happy.png

Yes, but not quite. 'Republic of Serbia' is successor to Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Serbia, 'Republic of Srpska' is Bosnian Serb Republic within Bosnia and Herzegovina, with their own government and police.

But speaking of Serbia, this is how their police cars looks like now:



By the way, since reusing a strobe lightbar based on design from eighties by the end of the second decade of 21st century is no good, http://policecars.hu/p/displayimage.php?album=37&pos=86. Unfortunately it happened before the law change, so it's still all blue (for now, at least).

Also, Prague just got new patrol cars, and these are Skoda again:


Hopefully national police will soon follow the suit, because they pretty much abandoned the Hyundai contract by now, and while the next selection was won by Skoda, it got contested by Hyundai for change.

Posted by: BrabusAMG May 13 2019, 02:57 PM
What's wrong with all-blue? I've always preferred that for police cars. If another colour is needed for better visibility, then white or orange would work just as well. That said, red and blue can look really nice with the right livery.

Speaking of which, Mississauga Fire & Emergency Services recently got a new fire engine with a different livery. Even more interesting, they've installed red and blue lights:



As far as I know, this is the first fire service in Canada to adopt blue lights. It's a little ironic, since Ontario was the last province to use blue lights on police cars (or any other emergency vehicle). Before that, blue was only used on snow ploughs.


By the way, there's been a new development in the New Zealand Police fleet: the new Commodore "sedans" (Sportbacks) don't have much rear headroom, making it difficult to get tall criminals in the back seat laugh.png. They might have to start buying the wagons instead, like in the UK and Sweden.


(PS: Did anyone else miss Macedonia's name-change to North Macedonia?)

Posted by: Dark One Jun 5 2019, 11:34 AM
I already mentioned it before, but it's the matter of different wavelength. Different color being visible under different conditions, red light being visible from greater distance, and so on. After all experts spent years fighting the DoT, and their dumb excuse, I mean the official statement, that people would mistake red beacon with brake light. And there you have it:




On related matter, traffic police is celebrating 100 years of their existence, so they presented a selection of their past and present vehicles on this year's IDET/ISET fair in Brno. Including the RS6 of South-Moravian highway patrol with improved door decals:

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One is wondering though, why it was initially marked with that small lettering in the first place. The car was originally red, so they had to wrap it entirely anyway, yet it ended up looking like half-assed GTA retexture, or a movie prop.

Posted by: Dark One Jun 30 2019, 10:40 AM
June being once again the time of police days all across the country, protective service wasn't wasting their time, and updated their fleet with red/blue lighting:

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Unfortunately, only Audi of traffic division with red/blue lightbar so far (besides the RS6) is from the Capital, https://i.imgur.com/zsQhVbW.jpg, while https://i.imgur.com/kYz8aL0.jpg.



And since the police force of Poland is also celebrating 100 years of their existence this year, they gave themselves new uniforms, and BMW patrol cars as a gift:



Getting maybe little bit too German-like in process (but I guess that anything goes, when it's for traffic safety):


Posted by: Dark One Sep 9 2019, 10:19 AM
And it's finally here! Even though the Czech Ministry of Interior already filed a lawsuit against the cancellation of their previous selection tender for new patrol cars, they couldn't afford to wait any longer, and since their new selection went uncontested, contract got signed last Friday, and police will be getting about two thousand of new vehicles by the end of this year. biggrin.png

Among others, 40 Ford Rangers, 300 VW Transporters, and 865 Skoda Octavia Combi patrol cars:



Oh, and by the way. Earlier this year, Vošický got fired, laugh.png Hyundai is Hyundai again, and as goes for their Tucson contract, I guess that police won't be getting any more than the 91 they already put into service.

Posted by: slego9 Sep 16 2020, 03:11 PM
My local department just got a new cruiser (compare it to their old one from just a few years ago)

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New one /\
Old one \/

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I personally feel that this is a downgrade.

Posted by: Dark One Oct 9 2020, 11:23 PM
I agree that the old one looked better. It's somehow "more Canadian". laugh.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Nov 26 2020, 01:30 PM
I have excellent news!


With the Holden brand being discontinued next year, the New Zealand Police have had to consider a new patrol car for their fleet. After testing 12 models from 7 manufacturers, they have now chosen one: the https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/%C5%A1koda-supply-new-police-cars!

They will be using the station wagons in both 2WD and AWD versions. The new Superbs will be revealed early next year and should be ready for duty in April.

It may seem a bit strange that they chose the Superb, since police forces in Europe normally use the Octavia. However, New Zealanders are used to larger cars, which are still quite popular; in fact, city cars such as the Hyundai i10 and Toyota Aygo are not even sold here officially. (The Ford Ka and Škoda Citigo were, but they didn't last long.)

I'm quite partial to Škoda, so I'll be very excited to see one of these new patrol cars when they arrive! biggrin.png

Posted by: Dark One Dec 31 2020, 03:30 AM
Good for them. I'm surprised they went with station wagon, but apparently they preferred its practicality over the liftback. I wish our police would get Superb for anything else than unmarked highway patrol, but at first they wanted to switch from Octavia to something bigger, like https://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/166477/Praha_-_Policie_-_8AE_6394_-_PMJ_-_FueKw/photo/521954 that they have just got for "scene commanders" in Prague:

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And then they have ordered more than 1200 marked Skoda Scala patrol cars. I mean it's better than the Hyundai i30 that bid against it, and definitely better than driving around in rusting Octavia from 2008, but they wanted to upscale, and instead they downscaled. dry.png I can't but to scratch my head. Also, I can only hope that rapid response would still get Octavia at least, because the times when four officers in tactical gear climbed from Felicia are long gone. tongue.png

On the other hand, the (in)famous municipal police of Lázně Bohdaneč got tired of servicing their constantly broken Ford Kuga, and got themselves an early Christmas gift:

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Their new design is kinda wild, and literally taken off the NSW police Audi RS4, but at least it's not polizei rip-off, like what they have on Kuga. Still, it's nice to see that the idea outlived its founders. Unlike what happened in Chvaletice, where the history repeated itself, Mayor who established local police lost the elections, all officers resigned, and left, while new management sold their Charger, and bought Dacia Duster. dry.png

Posted by: Dark One Apr 29 2021, 06:13 AM
New year, time to deliver some new police cars. And this time around it will 500 Kodiaqs out of their large order of about 1800 unmarked vehicles, converted to marked patrol cars for rural, and mountain police precincts:

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So, this way they somehow can stay true to their initial plan to upsize some police cars, especially where officers had to use a decade old Octavia, or even older Transporter living a second life after retired from the Border Police.

And here for the comparison, is one of the aforementioned Skoda Scala patrol cars:

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Still not really a fan, but I guess these are similar to US police using patrol cars like Ford Fairmont, or Chevrolet Malibu, over the fullsize ones.

Also, here's the introduction of NZ Skoda Superb patrol cars:



Really wish our traffic police got these too, or at least marked the ones they already have.

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jul 5 2021, 04:55 PM
I finally got to see one in real life! biggrin.png

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There are changes in the livery and equipment on the new cars:

The most noticeable change is the red and blue squares advertising the emergency and non-emergency numbers. Also, the font on the lettering is more rounded, and the red line has a circle at the top (possibly resembling a "koru", an unfurling silver fern frond).

The Superbs also have corner LEDs on the front and rear bumpers. The lightbar is a Federal Signal Integrity. Also, the siren unit is now made by the Wade group instead of Nautech.

Posted by: Dark One Oct 31 2021, 08:11 PM
It does look nice in the NZ livery alright. happy.png

QUOTE (Dark One @ Apr 29 2021, 09:13 AM)
Really wish our traffic police got these too, or at least marked the ones they already have.

And sometimes, when you wish for something, it becomes the reality. laugh.png

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Chief of the traffic police might have surname that literally translates as Evil, but he was good to the highway patrol officers, and gave them new rides as well. cool.png

Posted by: Jean-Paul Piskunov Jan 22 2022, 09:15 PM
Hello, Comrades. I have a state standard for Russian emergency vehicle liveries, can i put it here?

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 23 2022, 02:32 PM
Привет, Jean-Paul. If you're talking about liveries for car mods, it would be best to put them http://nfspolicehq.com/forum/index.php?showforum=118, in the Parts section. But if you're talking about government rules for real-life emergency vehicles, then yes, you can put it here.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Piskunov Jan 25 2022, 02:16 AM
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jan 23 2022, 02:32 PM)
Привет, Jean-Paul. If you're talking about liveries for car mods, it would be best to put them http://nfspolicehq.com/forum/index.php?showforum=118, in the Parts section. But if you're talking about government rules for real-life emergency vehicles, then yes, you can put it here.

What about i make a Power Point Presentation about Soviet and Russian Militsiya liveries according to existing legal documents?
А что если я сделаю презентацию касаемо милицейской ливреи, все согласно нормативно-правовой базе?

Posted by: Paul Spain Jan 27 2022, 07:07 AM
QUOTE (Jean-Paul Piskunov @ Jan 25 2022, 10:16 AM)
QUOTE (BrabusAMG @ Jan 23 2022, 02:32 PM)
Привет, Jean-Paul. If you're talking about liveries for car mods, it would be best to put them http://nfspolicehq.com/forum/index.php?showforum=118, in the Parts section. But if you're talking about government rules for real-life emergency vehicles, then yes, you can put it here.

What about i make a Power Point Presentation about Soviet and Russian Militsiya liveries according to existing legal documents?
А что если я сделаю презентацию касаемо милицейской ливреи, все согласно нормативно-правовой базе?

Sam, That you? happy.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Jan 27 2022, 02:01 PM
I'm not sure how to put one of those on here. You could upload a few sample pictures and a link to the PPTX file. Or maybe turn it into a video, upload it to YouTube and then hotlink the video on a new post.

Posted by: Jean-Paul Piskunov Jan 28 2022, 12:58 AM
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Jan 27 2022, 07:07 AM)
Sam, That you? happy.png

No, it's Alexander, your old pal from VK. IDK why, but it froze your account there. I couldn't contact with you, so i logged here. happy.png

Posted by: BrabusAMG Feb 1 2022, 07:05 PM
I've just remembered that you can attach a file to a post, so you could put your PowerPoint presentation into a ZIP file and upload it right here.

Posted by: Dark One Jul 26 2022, 12:00 PM
Ever since the reveal of their new Superbs for highway patrol, traffic police announced plan to acquire 40 marked, and 40 unmarked BMW 5s for their newly established special response unit, that will be handing escorts, but also car theft/smuggling, and illegal racing. And the time is now:

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Not to mention, that they already got themselves this sedan as appetizer:

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But they really take this seriously, and since both the traffic police, and special units of criminal police already introduced into their fleet some cars confiscated from their previous owner, it was only a matter of time before something more extreme hits the road. And unless we are talking about some super rich emirate (and I don't think that Czech police confiscated some Bugatti just yet), you can hardly find anything more extreme than police Ferrari:

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Posted by: slego9 Aug 5 2022, 04:29 PM
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Jan 27 2022, 10:07 AM)
Sam, That you?  happy.png

Do you miss me Paul? tongue.png (Unless you are referring to another Sam, in which case I made this thread even more awkward). Yeah.... nope, my Russian has gotten better but is still elementary at best.

Здравствуйте Alexander! Welcome to the forums!

Posted by: Paul Spain Aug 5 2022, 10:21 PM
QUOTE (slego9 @ Aug 6 2022, 12:29 AM)
QUOTE (Paul Spain @ Jan 27 2022, 10:07 AM)
Sam, That you?  happy.png

Do you miss me Paul? tongue.png (Unless you are referring to another Sam, in which case I made this thread even more awkward). Yeah.... nope, my Russian has gotten better but is still elementary at best.

Здравствуйте Alexander! Welcome to the forums!

Welcome back..Actually I had Alex confused with Sam (SonicZR1 then later Sirius(something))

Posted by: BrabusAMG Aug 6 2022, 04:53 PM
I can just imagine the officer driving that Ferrari after a pursuit ...

"Man, why did you pull over so early? I was having so much fun!"

Posted by: Jean-Paul Piskunov Nov 12 2022, 05:11 PM
Comrades, i found this document about Soviet Militsiya livery.
An Order of MVD of USSR №266 dated 31.12.1953 that established the first official livery of Soviet Militsiya (expired in 1957 due to new Order №55 dated 23.01.1957).
It says that republican MVDs must paint all "Pobeda", GAZ-67, GAZ-69 and M-72 motorcycles ONLY to unified color scheme - dark blue with red stripe.
Some photos:
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A livery for "Pobeda":
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A livery for GAZ-67:
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A livery for M-72 Motorcycle:
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Enjoy.
P. S. To make it simpler with colors, use this page (Though it's about Militsiya livery since 1957, but nevertheless: https://www.drive2.ru/b/551998543804497995/)

Posted by: Jean-Paul Piskunov Nov 12 2022, 05:13 PM
In addition to my post about Order of MVD USSR №266 dated 31.12.1953.
Real-life images:
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Posted by: Jean-Paul Piskunov Nov 12 2022, 05:25 PM
Though now i have a question: I know that early Soviet Militsiya vehicles had on top either loudspeakers, or a searchlight with red "A" letter. Some also had a so-called "identification light board" with word "МИЛИЦИЯ" on it. Where should i provide info about it? Here or on other forum dedicated to cop lights?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by: Dark One Mar 19 2023, 11:25 AM
QUOTE (Dark One @ Jul 26 2022, 03:00 PM)
Ever since the reveal of their new Superbs for highway patrol, traffic police announced plan to acquire 40 marked, and 40 unmarked BMW 5s for their newly established special response unit, that will be handing escorts, but also car theft/smuggling, and illegal racing. And the time is now:

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Not to mention, that they already got themselves this sedan as appetizer:

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And just as I thought it can't get any better, our Slovak brothers decide to get some too, and while they were at it, they also updated their paint scheme to rather familiar design:

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From the front they are almost the same, except that Slovak police also added reflective stripes to the hood, in a styling similar to Germany:

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And on the rear they have chevron design like on German police cars (unlike Czech police cars, which only have half of the chevron, and lettering on the other half):

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