Law enforcement vehicles vary in style depending on their intended use and function, including motorcycles, paddy wagons, jet skis, SUVs, and unmarked vehicles. Marked vehicles are the most common and recognizable, equipped with lights, sirens, and a computer. Paddy wagons transport multiple prisoners, while motorcycles and jet skis patrol confined spaces and bodies of water. Unmarked SUVs are used for federal law enforcement and surprise apprehensions.
Law enforcement agencies are required to respond to a number of different types of situations in a variety of climates and terrains. As a result, law enforcement vehicles come in a variety of styles, depending on their intended use and function. While the standard pursuit vehicle is what most people think of when they think of law enforcement vehicles, officers can also use motorcycles, paddy wagons, and jet skis, as well as SUVs and unmarked vehicles.
In most jurisdictions, patrol officers typically drive a marked vehicle that has been manufactured to operate in high pursuits as needed. Of all law enforcement vehicles, this is the most common and most easily recognized. Marked police vehicles are usually equipped with lights and a siren, as well as a built-in computer. Further changes often include a grille, or metal separation, between the front and rear seats for prisoner transport, as well as the removal of door handles from the rear doors. Traditional and marked vehicles are intended to act as a crime deterrent as well as to make standard arrests and transport officers and prisoners.
A paddy wagon is usually a large van that has been modified to carry numerous prisoners at once. Paddy is often called upon to a crime scene to transport prisoners when the arresting officer is unable to do so, or when there are large numbers of prisoners to be transported. The paddy wagon often has a divider at the rear to keep males and females separate, and a divider to keep prisoners and police officers separate.
Motorcycles, jet skis, and even snow machines are often found in a department’s arsenal of law enforcement vehicles. Motorcycles are often used to enforce traffic laws or to maintain a police presence in confined spaces that a car cannot enter. Many law enforcement agencies have a lake or river within their jurisdiction and, therefore, must have a way to patrol the water. There are even snow machines used in jurisdictions where colder weather often prevents safe travel.
In the United States, federal law enforcement officers almost always travel in an unmarked vehicle, usually an SUV. US federal agents often travel in teams, making an SUV a practical option. Local law enforcement can also use marked SUVs. Unmarked law enforcement vehicles are used as a way to exploit the element of surprise when apprehending a criminal. While an unmarked vehicle has no exterior markings, it will typically have the lights and siren and all of the other interior accessories of a marked vehicle.
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