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| Akron, Ohio, lays claim to the first motorized police patrol wagon, built by Collins Buggy in 1899. |
The first squad car hit the bad streets of Akron, Ohio, in 1899. The battery-powered buggy was designed by city mechanical engineer Frank Loomis and built by Collins Buggy Co. It was equipped with electric lights, gongs and a stretcher, and had a snaillike top speed of 16 mph and a feeble range of 30 miles before it needed to be recharged. The car's first assignment: to pick up a drunk at the junction of Main and Exchange streets.
By 1909, there was a serious need for a more modern police car to supplement or replace bicycle and horse-mounted units in order to keep up with faster, motorized vehicles driven by offenders. Enter the Ford Model T, the only affordable choice. The early versions of the T were powered by a front-mounted 4-cylinder engine that developed 20 horsepower, propelling the big beast to a top speed of almost 45 mph. During this period, cars were purchased retail and then modified by police departments. Modifications were limited — rudimentary markings and a variety of lights were the only things that set most early police cars apart from regular cars.
In 1919, Ford began producing a Model T police truck, developed in response to police requests for a secure vehicle that separated officers and prisoners. Generally painted black and known by the slang term "paddy wagon," police departments often used the cagelike transport to haul drunken partygoers to a holding cell.
From 1899 through the decades until today ... see the complete evolution of police cars at the link.
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