Thought this might inspire some armour people.

Posted By GTX on BtS:

A quick interweb search for "Police Tank" came up with these.

CH-14 Aguilucho Argentinian Observation helicopter

(source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicar%C3%A9_CH-14_Aguilucho)

Bundesgrenschutz/Bundespolizie, German Border Police.  Post war, they had paramilitary role reflecting the fact that they were on the frontline of the iron curtain.  They had equipment to suit, including M8 Greyhounds and Saladin's.  Equipment differs from the German armed forces so there's quite a lot of scope.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bundesgrenzschutz+vehicles&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiehNjegYrvAhVCyRoKHd9rA5UQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=bundesgrenzschutz+vehicles&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzoGCAAQChAYOgYIABAIEB5Q5acCWInAAmDh2gJoAHAAeACAAXeIAfIDkgEDNS4xmAEAoAEBwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=_TM6YN6RO8KSa9_XjagJ&bih=648&biw=360&client=ms-android-huawei&prmd=isnv&hl=en

They were renamed Bundespolizie to reflect the change in role following reunification and the end of the cold war.  They still field TM-170 APCs though.

Quote from: zenrat on February 27, 2021, 03:45:48 AM

For some reason that doesn't show on my system, but it's a BRIGHT yellow Stalwart. 

Quote from: zenrat on February 27, 2021, 03:09:11 AM

A quick interweb search for "Police Tank" came up with these.

They do seem to take things somewhat seriously over there, don't they?

Which will be the first Police Force to have an Abrams tank on their force? 

Quote from: PR19_Kit on February 27, 2021, 06:25:20 AM

Quote from: zenrat on February 27, 2021, 03:09:11 AM

A quick interweb search for "Police Tank" came up with these.

They do seem to take things somewhat seriously over there, don't they?

Which will be the first Police Force to have an Abrams tank on their force? 

Hands down, the Texas Rangers, lol

On a more local note, the Mason County Sheriff's Department has a Cadillac-Gage V-150 armored car

Here's one I made earlier...

It looks like I actually posted this one here 15 years ago today...at least that's the date I uploaded it to Photobucket, and I would have posted here Immediately I imagine.  Hard to believe I've been on this site that long (several years longer actually).

It's a Revellogram Skyraider as a North Carolina Forestry Service Fire Bomber.  I called it the "FireRaider".  Floats were carved from balsa and covered in lots and lots of putty.  NC Forestry Service were crudely printed with an inkjet.  Unfortunately the model was lost in a move years ago, but at least it lives on in photo form. 

From the 2007 One Week GB.
LAPD SWAT BRDM, with appropriate corporate sponsorship and Pink Pearl rubber bullets. 

Inspirational blast from the past: a Percival Provost on floats, as a forest fire observer and water bomber guidance plane in Canadian service, built some years ago:


1:72 Percival CSR-131 'Provost'; aircraft '901' of No. 440 Communications and Rescue Squadron, Canadian Air Force; CFB Winnipeg, Canada; summer 1974  (Whif/Matchbox kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Concerning police tanks, I happened to come across this one, a post-WWII Type 95 tank (unfortunately with no deeper information about it):

And that's a Quad artillery tractor right behind it, complete with some SERIOUS headlights! 

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on March 03, 2021, 01:11:38 AM
Concerning police tanks, I happened to come across this one, a post-WWII Type 95 tank (unfortunately with no deeper information about it):

Used in Tokyo for crowd control and riot duties post-WWII. Others were converted to bulldozers, snow ploughs and tow vehicles.

The main article is here, I have put an edited translation below. https://www.excite.co.jp/news/article/Trafficnews_84021
Yagura translates to Tower or Stronghold.

Quote
https://www.excite.co.jp/news/article/Trafficnews_84021
At the end of the Pacific War in 1945, there were quite a few tanks left in Japan in preparation for the mainland decisive battle. Some of them are said to have been used in various ways while being incapacitated as weapons after the army was dismantled.

Overseas, in the event of a terrorist attack, coup d'etat, or large-scale mayhem, the armed forces of that country may deploy tanks throughout the city to maintain security.

In Japan as well, from 1960 (Showa 35) to 1970 (Showa 45), when the security struggle was fierce, the Ground Self-Defense Force built a yagura on a tank with a wire net and attached a water discharge gun to the turret. When it was announced, it was supposed to use tanks instead of guard vehicles. Fortunately, however, it ended without being dispatched.

In this way, you may have a strong image that "tanks are used by the military", but tanks are not the only ones used by the military. In fact, in the past, Japanese police also operated tanks.

However, the Japanese police were equipped with tanks for about 10 years from the 1945s to the 1955s, just after the end of the Pacific War, and it was not so long.

The former Japanese Army Type 97 medium tank and Type 95 light tank were used, but both were produced and deployed as the very center of Japanese tank force during the Pacific War. With 2123 cars for the 97 type and 2378 cars for the 95 type (the numbers have various theories depending on the materials), it is the second and first place in the production of Japanese tanks.

The Type 97 medium tank is a medium tank with a weight of about 15 tons, which was formalized in 1937 (Showa 12). A light tank that is one size smaller and lighter than that, and although its defense and offensive power is one step inferior to the Type 97, its highly maneuverable light tank was the Type 95 light tank that was officially adopted in 1935 (Showa 10). It weighed about 7.4t).

At the end of the Pacific War, it was preserved in the country in preparation for the mainland decisive battle, so a considerable number were still in operation after the war.

When the army was dismantled due to the defeat, all weapons were no longer needed, but tanks were to be reused as construction machinery for national reconstruction after removing the turrets and machine guns.

For example, it is equipped with a mechanical soil removal plate (dozer) that moves only up and down on the front of the car body. This soil removal plate is operated with a wire and a pulley, and if you pull the wire extending from the car body, the soil removal plate will rise, and if you want to lower it, you can relax the tension of the wire and descend with the weight of the soil removal plate itself. did.

The part where the turret was removed was an open top that remained open without being sealed, and was used as a civilian (military, general-purpose) bulldozer under the name of "rehabilitation tank".


By the way, the original Type 97 medium tank itself also had a car body equipped with a soil removal plate. Because of this precedent, it could have been diverted as a bulldozer relatively early after the war.

This rehabilitation tank is owned not only by private companies but also by local governments. For example, Tokyo Metropolitan Government uses it as a towing vehicle for removing obstacles, and also dispatches it as a snow removal vehicle during heavy snowfall in 1949 (Showa 24).

On the other hand, the security of Japan at that time was deteriorating, and the Police Agency was also equipped with a tank-converted security vehicle to suppress the mob. Like the rehabilitation tank, it was the body of the old military Type 97 medium tank with the turret removed, with a soil removal plate attached, and was called an "armored car."

This vehicle was dispatched at the "Third Toho Dispute" in 1948 (Showa 23) when removing a barricade constructed of scrap wood at the entrance of the Toho Rui Photo Studio, and was used for documentary films and photographs. Because of its appearance, it is relatively famous as a tank-modified armored car.

On the other hand, around 1953 (Showa 28), an armored vehicle with a modified body of the Type 95 light tank was deployed to the Police Agency for the purpose of complementing the above-mentioned armored vehicle based on the Type 97 medium tank. The official name is "craft vehicle", which is in contrast to the above-mentioned type 97 medium tank-based one called "armored vehicle".



The Metropolitan Police Department's "craft vehicle" is patrolled at the Jingu Gaien ceremony (Image: Monthly PANZER editorial department).

The surrounding alerts are monitored from the slit at the top of the passenger compartment and the small circular window (Image: Monthly PANZER editorial department).

The "craft vehicle" has no turret, and the body is the same as the Type 95 light tank (Image: Monthly PANZER editorial department).

Despite its name, this vehicle has a much more like a security vehicle than the "armored vehicle" that diverted the Type 97 medium tank. First of all, there is no soil removal plate on the front of the car body, so wires etc. do not extend out from the center of the car body.

In addition, a fixed passenger compartment was installed in the center of the vehicle body with the turret removed. This is a large, closed type with a roof unlike the "armored car", and also has slits for inspection in three directions, and even circular crenellated on the left and right.

However, since it is not for military use, the driver's hatch on the front of the car body is designed to open wide, and the front of the car body is equipped with a large headlight and a motor siren (a siren with a "woo" sound). Apparently, it was more seriously modified than the "armored car" of the Type 97 medium tank modification mentioned above.

In this way, the "craft car" was more sophisticated than the "armored car", so it can be seen that it was used by the Metropolitan Police Department for a longer period than the "armored car".

Even so, due to the tracked type (so-called caterpillar type) structure, it seems that there were restrictions on usability in urban areas where there are still many areas where the ground is leveled, and it will be updated when various truck-based security armored vehicles appear. In shape, it disappeared in the early 1955's.

By the way, in Hokkaido , consumer vehicles, which used the body of the Type 95 light tank, continued to be used. For example, in 1954 (Showa 29), on the Ishikari Line (between Ishikari and Bannaguro) of the Hokkaido Chuo Bus ( Otaru City , Hokkaido ), if the bus could not run due to snowfall, the horse sleigh was modified instead. We made a snow bus "Bachibus" tailored to a passenger car, and provided it as a means of transportation for residents in winter by pulling it with a modified tow vehicle of the Type 95 light tank.

In addition to this, the Hokkaido Chuo Bus is used as a snowplow by attaching a soil removal plate to the front of the car body, and in addition to the car body of the modified Type 95 light tank, the Type 97 medium tank and the set medium tank etc. There is a record that it was remodeled and used until around 1960 (Showa 35).

Cool, thanks a lot! 

Another inspirational RW bird from the "To the rescue" GB - why not think big...