Let’s explore a couple of police cars around the world, shall we? In the US, there’s the Ford Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility, Dodge Charger Pursuit, and Chevrolet Tahoe Police Pursuit Vehicle. The UK has a barrage of BMW 3-Series and 5-Series Tourings, along with a healthy dose of Volvo V90s and XC90s.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the BMW 5-Series has become the de facto highway patrol vehicle. There’s also the Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata for general duties, while Ford Ranger and Toyota Land Cruiser for more specialized tasks. That said, there isn’t a strict list of cars Australian police forces must use.
Last time out, we mentioned the Subaru WRX patrolling the Northern Territory. Now, we’ll be slowing down the pace by quite a lot as the New South Wales police force has just employed the Suzuki Jimny.
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More specifically, it’s the five-door version of the small SUV that’s now donned its police uniform. Mind you, it’s just one unit, and it’s on loan from Suzuki Australia. It’s not a donation from the company per se, so it won’t be around in the force for that long.
So, what will be its duties? Obviously, it won’t be for hot pursuits as it’s saddled with a 1.5-liter engine that musters 103hp. Instead, it’s more of a ‘community liaison vehicle’ so it’s more about working with the, er, community, than chasing down criminals.
Still, a police car is a police car, so this Jimny wears the full livery. It even has a nickname now, hence the SGT JIM vanity plate. In case you noticed, there’s no light bar as, again, it’s for community liaison purposes and not general patrol duties. That said, we reckon it could respond to a few, non-urgent calls if needed.
Mind you, there are other police forces in the world that use the Suzuki Jimny for more serious work. For instance, the Italian Carabinieri (Italian National Police) has a couple of them in their motor pool, while a few agencies in the UK keep them around for rural patrols.
