A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a high visibility deterrent to crime. Some police cars are specially adapted for certain locations (e.g. work on busy roads) or for certain operations (e.g. to transport police dogs or bomb squads).
The first police car was a wagon run by electricity fielded on the streets of Akron, Ohio, in 1899. The first operator of the police patrol wagon was Akron Police officer Louis Mueller, Sr. It could reach 16 mph (26 km/h) and travel 30 mi (48 km) before its battery needed to be recharged. The car was built by city mechanical engineer Frank Loomis. The USD$2,400 vehicle was equipped with electric lights, gongs and a stretcher. The car's first assignment was to pick up a drunken man at the junction of Main and Exchange streets.
Terms for police cars include (police) cruiser, squad car, area car and patrol car. In some places a police car may also be informally known as a cop car, a black and white, a cherry top, a gumball machine, a jam sandwich or panda car. Depending on the configuration of the emergency lights and livery, a police car may be considered a marked or unmarked unit.
Read more about Police Car: Usage, Functional Types, Equipment, Use By Country, Police Cars in Popular Culture
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—Robert D. Andrews. Nick Grindé. Police detective, Before I Hang, describing his meeting with Dr. Garth (1940)
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