by Jan Hogendoorn
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in The Netherlands, after Amsterdam, but it is also the largest seaport in Europe. It's known for its striking modern architecture, built after the heart of the city was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War.
The fleet of the Politie Rotterdam was also badly damaged in the war, and the purchase of new cars was extremely difficult, so in August 1946 the police obtained ten surplus military jeeps from an American dump near Reims, France (above.) Police Technical Services in The Hague, where surplus jeeps were also being put into service, assisted with the necessary repairs and painted the jeeps blue.
A mobile roadside check carries a sign reading, "Traffic Police Rotterdam Brake Check (Also On Request)."
In the immediate postwar years there was a shortage of parts so owners often took risks with poorly maintained vehicles. The police brake check was aimed at the safety of citizens, and inspections were also done on request from citizens, or from companies with fleets of vehicles.
In July 1949, the Rotterdam Corps purchased four new Universal Jeeps (model CJ-3A) and later another five. The Motor Vehicle Management Service made doors whose upper and lower sections hinged separately.
Auxiliary bumpers at the front could be used for pushing stationary vehicles. This feature proved to be very useful in Rotterdam's famous Maastunnel.
The Maastunnel was built just before World War II and extends 1,373 meters (almost a mile) under the river Nieuwe Maas. It's not clear exactly what this Jeep is doing facing the line of traffic; maybe another roadside checkpoint.
Spare tires on the CJ-3As were located in the center of the tailgate.
The Politie also had an M38 designated specifically for policing the Maastunnel. M38s from the American occupation army in Germany became available as surplus in the second half of the 1950s. As far as is known this is the only one used by the Rotterdam police. Painted in black and yellow with red panels on the windshield, it can also be glimpsed in an overhead view of traffic entering the tunnel (260K JPEG) and in the background of a 1966 newspaper photo of a Series II Land Rover (110K JPEG) converted into a wrecker for the tunnel.
The Motor Vehicle Management Service was responsible for purchasing and maintaining the vehicle fleet. In 1950 they sent six of the aging WWII jeeps to truck builder Pacton in the suburb of Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel to have their frames lengthened. Beautifully-made new van bodies were fabricated by P. van der Schee in IJsselmonde, across the Nieuwe Maas from central Rotterdam.
One of the stretched vans was replaced in 1951 by a two-wheel drive Willys Sedan Delivery with full-height rear doors (240K JPEG).
Rotterdam's first radio-equipped police vehicles were 1948 Ford woody station wagons, replaced in May 1951 with seven new dark blue 2x4 Willys Station Wagons (note the aerial and loudspeaker on the roof.) These Radio Surveillance Brigade units were in turn phased out in favor of Ford F100 panel trucks (90K JPEG), beginning in 1955.
At least six Willys CJ-3Bs were purchased between 1954 and 1962. This photo from April 1958 comes from the archives of former Police Commissioner Jan Blaauw (2nd from the right). The 3Bs were given one-piece doors, and a siren mounted on the front bumper.
Until 1959 the CJ-3Bs were actually assembled in Rotterdam, at the Nederlandse Kaiser-Frazer (NEKAF) factory (730K JPEG) which had begun building Jeeps shortly after Kaiser Industries bought Willys Motors in the U.S.A. in 1953.
In the late 1950s, Rotterdam and other police forces tested the Trawia 12F traffic light, intended for intersections where a temporary light was needed. It could be operated manually and also with a wireless remote control. Reportedly, Rotterdam did not purchase the Trawia.
In the late 1990s one of the Rotterdam CJ-3Bs was restored by Erik van de Peppel in the original blue color.
For details on the project, see Rotterdam Police Jeep Restoration.
Here's a surprise -- dual controls installed in one of the Rotterdam CJ-3As, for departmental training purposes.
This photo, and the one above, indicate that some of the 3As were still in service circa 1958 when the police began to replace the 3Bs as traffic and patrol units, with Volkswagen Beetles. Perhaps memories of the German occupation during the war had begun to fade.
Jeeps were no longer built in Rotterdam after NEKAF went bankrupt in 1959, and the Politie Rotterdam did not follow the example of The Hague and continue to purchase imported Jeeps (see Police Jeeps of The Hague.)
The busy seaport forms a great background for this 1955 portrait of some of the Radio Surveillance Brigade wagons and the Ford panel trucks that had begun replacing them. This was only four years after the seven new Willys wagons had posed for the photo below.
Thanks to Jan Hogendoorn for the photos and details. -- Derek Redmond
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