CITY'S FLYING SQUAD

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21732, 14 March 1936, Page 18

CITY'S FLYING SQUAD

MOTORCAR USED BY DETECTIVES WELL-KNOWN VEHICLE OF HEREFORD STREET It may not generally be known among the non-criminal classes, .but Christchurch does possess a flying squad complete with motor-car. Almost every day the motor-car may be seen outside the detective office in Hereford street, waiting and eager for the chase. Although it is the property of one of the detectives, it has come to be identified with the department, and many officers use it in and about the city. But those who base their ideas of flying squads on crime novels may wait in vain to see • Christchurch traffic suspended in the Square while detectives fly through the streets at breakneck pace, and the Christchurch flying squad does not even vie with the Fire Board and use a siren to warn people to keep from its path. For it .is not that kind of car. Dignity and determination rather than speed are its attributes; It has many years of service to its credit, but only recently has it reformed and become an arm of the detective service. In actual fact it is a veteran, which might be guessed by those who see it, and was probably on the road before the Great War. It is a two-seater, but on occasions of great moment, when more than two detectives are required on a job it has been known to hold more than the number for which it was originally designed, and rushes —at a steady 18 miles an hour—protectors of law and order to where they are mdst required. One of its advantages from the viewpoint of traffic inspectors is that only on rare occasions—when there, is a following wind or a steep downgrade—can it be driven "at a speed, which having regard to all the circumstances might be dangerous to the public." However, it makes a valuable addition to the Police Force's other fleet, consisting of an English saloon some years old, and the well-known "Black Maria," now painted grey.