Our impression of Thailand is that apart from the occasional coup in the country, it is probably a popular tourist destination. Especially after the movie "Lost in Thailand" became a hit in the past few years, "Sawadika" also became a greeting on our lips. Nowadays, we can’t go abroad because of the epidemic, but we can’t stop seeing the world. Today, let’s take a look at the police cars in Thailand.
Thailand is a monarchy. The official name of its police agency is the Royal Thai Police (RTP). There are currently about 230,000 police officers in Thailand. Currently, Thailand has about 340 police officers per 100,000 people. This police-to-citizen ratio is much higher than that of neighboring countries such as Myanmar and the Philippines. It is about 1.5 times that of Japan and roughly equivalent to the level of the United States.
The Royal Thai Police has many different subdivisions. According to the region, it is divided into the Gyeonggi Police responsible for Bangkok and surrounding areas, the foreign local police responsible for local security, and the Border Patrol Police. In addition, there are the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Tourism Police, and the Export Police. Immigration Bureau, etc. The police uniforms of different departments will also be slightly different, but generally speaking, the uniforms of the Thai police tend to be more military-style.
Like the police uniforms, the painting of police cars in different departments in Thailand also differs, and there are great differences according to the region, task and level. Generally speaking, the general patrol car is painted in maroon + white, and the highway patrol police car is painted in a brighter maroon + yellow.
The painting styles of police cars of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Department are much richer. The styles of police cars of different departments are very different. For example, the police cars of the Immigration Management Department have a silver body with red and white colors. Color stripes, patrol and special operations group (191 Special Forces) use yellow and blue stripes plus department badges, Special Duties Division (SSD) uses yellow and blue Battenberg plaid plus department badges, and tourist police use white body with blue stripes ...In addition, there are many police cars with black and white paint and department badges. However, the above is not absolute. All in all, the painting of Thai police cars feels a bit confusing.
Friends who have traveled to Thailand must have been deeply impressed by the pickup trucks that fill the streets there. In fact, this kind of vehicle that can seat people, haul cargo, and go off-road is very popular in Southeast Asia. With such adaptability to the environment, there is no reason why the police should not use pickup trucks. As the world leader in pickup trucks, Toyota Hilux (parameter | inquiry) is the main model of the Thai police, especially in rural and border areas. In fact, Thailand is one of the main production areas of Hilux. Hilux sold in Japan is produced in Thailand and then resold.
Another very common pick-up police car in Thailand is the Isuzu D-Max. Like the Hilux, the Isuzu D-Max is also made in Thailand, and the factory is also located in Samut Bagan, southern Thailand. In addition, this province also produces the Nissan Navara, which also serves in the Thai police force, but the number is not as large as the previous two Japanese "friendly forces".
Perhaps pickup trucks have already met the functional needs. SUV police cars, which are becoming more and more popular in various countries, are not very mainstream in Thailand. Toyota Fortuner is a model with relatively high visibility among Thai police SUVs. Although it has a rounded appearance, it is not an urban SUV, but a hard-core off-road vehicle that is popular among Southeast Asian people. Fortuner adopts a non-load-bearing body and is on the same platform as Hilux. Passability and reliability are the key considerations for its consumers.
Toyota Fortuner is not without competitors. The Isuzu D-Max platform SUV MU-X is also a common model in Thai police garages. In addition, Nissan Navara's brother model Tuda, Ford's Ranger and Everest brothers, and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport also occupy a small share of the police car market. In addition, the models mentioned above are all produced by local factories in Thailand.
In addition to the pickup truck chassis SUVs mentioned above, Thailand also has a small number of city-oriented SUV police cars, such as the Nissan X-Trail and BMW X3 for highway police.In addition, the Crime Suppression Department (CSD) and Special Duties Department (SSD) under the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is responsible for serious cases nationwide, are also equipped with a small number of Mercedes-Benz GLE and GLS police cars.
Thailand’s automobile manufacturing industry is relatively mature, but there are not many local brands. Thairung Transformer is one of the few Thai brand models among police vehicles. This car is square and looks like an armored vehicle, with a very distinctive design. However, this is not a completely independent product, because the chassis is entirely the Hilux chassis provided by Toyota, and there is even a Toyota logo on the steering wheel.
