User:Knoodelhed/Incubator/Police equipment and livery

The federal, state, and local police agencies of Lovia are a model of professionalism and quiet sophistication. Observers used to the ways of United States police forces in particular will however note some subtle differences in their comparative appearance.

Vehicles
Nationwide, a noticeable majority of the standard duty police cars are Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, with a smattering of Dodge Chargers and Chevrolet Impalas, and the odd Nissan Frontier or Toyota Pre-runner thrown in for good measure. And most of these, with the exception of one or two states and some Sylvanian town fleets, were shipped with the standard black and white paint job. A noticeable difference, however, that may be noticed by students of police car appearance, is in the lighting package: most of these units are supplied with a single 360° blue flashing light bolted to the roof. Some, but not most, units assigned to a city center or a motorway detail might have two such lights installed, either blue/yellow or blue/red.

Communications
An encryption-capable, trunked frequency system enables any officer anywhere in Lovia to talk to any other officer or base station anywhere else in Lovia. All cars are equipped with plate recognition, passive audiovisual recorders, and data terminals. Police personal communicators run Android, can scan magnetic stripes, and are capable of switching on the fly between public safety radio, cellular mobile, satellite, wi-fi, and line-of-sight networking to obtain a working signal.

Personal weapons
Most officers still carry five- or six-shot revolvers in .38 Special or .357 magnum, though the Federal Police and a few other agencies have started to qualify their members to carry a Walther M9 or Sig Sauer P220.

Other equipment
Pepper spray devices and ASP telescoping truncheons were adopted within weeks after their introduction in the States, replacing respectively CN gas and the PR-24, but the Taser has been slow to catch on, citing damp weather and high cost.

Headgear
Due to the variable weather, most officers favor slouch or campaign hats as duty wear over combination covers, though personnel assigned to boats favor the latter due to maritime tradition. It is notable that no headgear worn by state police officers - be it a cap, helmet, turban, burnoose, or whatever - features a hat piece, though the Feds adopted one some time ago and Sylvanian local police have always used them.

Uniforms
It will be noticed right away that police in the field do not wear metal badges or name tags on their uniform tops. This has been standard practice for a number of years since the adoption of the combination lap and shoulder safety belt in cars. Instead, the logo of the organization is embroidered directly onto the uniform shirt above the left pocket, and the officer's identifying number, given initial, and family name are embroidered over the right.