“US cop” and patrol car from the Riverside Police Department as an eye-catcher

10/19/24 – Wherever it appears, it is immediately an eye-catcher and topic of conversation, even though the car itself is not that spectacular. But what rolled into the Alsfeld market square (with city approval) with a rich V8 sound for the ON photo shoot is not a normal 98 Ford Crown Victoria, but the Police Interceptor version with almost all of the original police equipment. When the driver wears a cop uniform that is just as true to the original and matches the car, the heads of old and young alike turn.

On Thursday afternoon, the traders on the Alsfeld market square were busy making the final preparations for the after-work market that was about to begin. Despite the extreme external conditions, there was already a busy hustle and bustle with many passers-by. Then the police drive up to the otherwise car-free square: arrest, the handcuffs click. Don’t worry, nothing happened. The “US cop” is Alexander Baumeister. He was not a police officer, neither in Germany nor in the USA, but is a teacher and lives in the Marburg district. His passion for American patrol cars first emerged about 20 years ago with model cars.

Younger and older onlookers quickly gather around the eye-catching couple on the market square…

Great sight: “Cop” Alex with his V8 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor…

Passion for US patrol cars

They had to correspond perfectly to the original, and if they weren’t available to buy, he painted and covered the “naked” model cars with the lettering and emblems, some of which he painstakingly “recreated” the originals graphically on the PC. Ten years ago he followed love and came to Hesse from North Rhine-Westphalia. The love of model building mutated into the idea that it could very well be a real US patrol car. The Riverside PD’s Crown, which was in good condition and ready to drive, was quickly found: V8 engine with 215 hp and 4.6 liter displacement – Alex struck. Starting in 1998, he completed four years of patrol duty in Riverside, California, not far from Los Angeles.

Then his Hollywood career took off: Until 2013, the Ford started out as a stunt vehicle for a film production company in Hollywood with special installations suitable for throwing. Baumeister convinced him in 2015 after he had already been imported to Germany. He has intensively studied the history of the vehicle and the Riverside PD and is a member of the nationwide active association “Police Car Owners of America – European Chapter”, whose manifest orientation is the maximum authenticity of US patrol cars. This is also extremely important for builders: “Installations such as radio, PC and video camera system have to be as close to the original as possible; you can never really finish them! What cannot be imported is, if possible, recreated in such a way that the improvisation is not noticeable.” .

Ancient dope

We are very well networked in the club, everyone helps everyone! the uniform, always with a view to the fact that Americans are very sensitive, rank badges and awards would be worn unfairly.

As soon as Baumeister got out of the car on the market square, curious people started buzzing around the car and the “cop”, many taking the opportunity to take snapshots. Two young people would like to sit in the car – in the front of course… “Super coooool!” Two others, slightly older, would like to re-enact an arrest. Baumeister quickly equips his “deputy sheriff” with a hat and provides the handcuffs. Everyone is having fun, you only see smiling faces across all generations. But it is always important for Baumeister to say: “For me, appearing in this uniform is not a masquerade, not a carnival. I just slip into the role of the American patrol officer.”

His vehicle has a German seasonal registration and he only sticks the California license plate on it at showtime. In many federal states, the blue light system is also included in the road traffic approval, he says – but not in Hesse. The registration office has already forcibly shut down his car because someone had demonstrably wrongly claimed that the Interceptor was driving with a special signal in public traffic. The trip took place with a special blue and red signal – but in the cordoned off area of ​​a vehicle show. Builder unscrews the special signaling system from the roof and stows it in the trunk – otherwise the (real) police will come at the end… (goa) +++