A new police car was spotted in Noord last night. This concerns the BMW type X1, which, together with the Ford Kuga, will replace the old Mercedes-Benz.
The models are used by the police as so-called ‘basic police vehicles’. They are currently still being tested. The intention is for all officers to have driven it once in the coming weeks. In addition to BMW, the police will also use Ford cars. They do this to reduce the risk of delivery problems.
For the police, the surveillance cars must meet several specific requirements: for example, cornering, braking behavior, driving over speed bumps and acceleration, but also general driving comfort. It is also checked whether agents can get in and out easily.
Problems with old models
Since 2019, the police have mainly used the Mercedes B-class, which replaced the Volkswagen Touran introduced in 2016. In both cases, the police received many complaints from officers. In the case of the Volkswagens, this had to do with an automatic braking function; according to officers, the Volkswagens were ‘too small’. According to some officers, the Mercedes B-Class was too small.
If everything goes according to plan at the police, the new cars will be fully deployed from 2025.
The police also already have a small number of other BMWs with police stripes. It concerns the BMW X5. There was one during Remembrance Day. A BMW X5 is also used by the police around Schiphol.
The police also have Toyota Landcruisers and the National Police Unit (including the traffic police) drives an Audi A6. These Audis are known to the police as Rapid Intervention Vehicles (SIVs).
