My daughter was in a fashion show at the Utah Safety Fair Friday night so I got a chance to wander around. Some interesting stuff including several displays of vehicles from the local Police Depts.

One caught my eye in particular, a police M-113. I talked to on of the officers manning the table and he said they had done some maneuvers in it but had not had to use it in action. He also stated that the Murray PD had used theirs for real.

Last thing he mentioned was that it is a little hot inside. The ride was OK but not for the driver.





Couple other pics here.

Hi Phil and all others,

strange,what you all use in police service. Here in Germany,the police has also special (armoured) vehicles,but no normally in military use one.
That remember me the movie "DIe hard",where the police special unit assaults the building. They are using a M 20,when I right remember. That supply vehicle based on the M 8 Greyhound.

Have a nice day,Nils

Quite a few police departments use M113s for their SWAT Assault Vehicles. You can see quite a few V-100s and other ex-military vehicles too. Here are a few more M113s in blue.







Fire Fighting M113

With the state prison being in Draper, it doesn't surprise me that they'd have a 113, Didn't know Murray had one though. Good Stuff!

Is that a transformers logo on the front of the Draper City police M-113? I'd hate to see what it transforms into! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Nasa had some for a while, stationed at the end of the 'slide for life' off of the shuttle tower.

There was an article in the ancient IPMS US Journal a long while back.

Mike

I like it. Since Draper is practically across the highway from Camp Williams, I'll have to check it out next time I'm there. I've got an old Tamiya 113 I haven't found a use for yet.

Gino,
The last one is the NASA rescue vehicle. They were painted white during the Apollo program, didn't know they changed the paint...
Thanks for the pics everyone.

Shaun

Linkage:
http://www.armouredengineer.force9.co.uk/bucket/nasa2.htm

Nils,

Some of our police departments do use armored vehicles that are purpose built for police use. Most of the time though, a department that has a use for an armored vehicle will turn to the federal government's surplus equipment program. The reason for this is simple. COST. When purchasing a new, purpose built vehicle, the department has to pay the full price of the vehicle - maybe $100,000.00 or more (I'm not sure of the actual prices - My department is to small to have ever looked into something like this). When getting a surplus vehicle, the price varies but is always much lower. At most, the department has to pay the actual adjusted cost of the vehicle - what the government originally paid, reduced according to age and condition, and how long the vehicle has been sitting in surplus (the longer it sits, the cheaper it will be)
Sometimes, when a Law Enforcement agency purchases the vehicle under specific conditions ( Prior to 9/11 a special condition was counter drug use, now I believe "Homeland Security" is the catchword) they can recieve the vehicle/equipment for free after paying a small handling charge (like shipping costs) This is a GROSS oversimplification of the process, but it gives you an idea of what goes on.

I'm not sure how things are done in Germany, but in the USA, the vast majority of police departments are almost entirely funded by their own towns. The NYPD is funded by the taxes paid by the 150 cajillion people who pay their taxes there. the Nanty-Glo Police Dept. where I work is funded by the 3,000 people who live there. etc... The bottom line is that richer and bigger towns have more money to spend on their toys.

Anyone notice the different tracks on the Doraville vehicle and the one two photos below? I believe it's FMC that is actually selling new rubber band track for these M113s in civilian use. Pretty cool.

Paul

@Nils; the German Polizei uses the Thyssen TM 170 or SW-4, that was originally used by German Bundesgrenzschutz. Some service in Bundeswehr was planned, but only a few saw service for a short time and the TM170 was sold to other armies instead. (see this Wikepedia article about it.).

Bundeswehr:


Polizei:



Paul