Habe zufällig ein Video von einem polnischen Hobbyisten gesehen, der in Polen um ein amerikanisches Polizeiauto herumfährt, was dort völlig legal ist. Es wurde tatsächlich komplett entkernt, er hat die Logos und alles selbst gemalt, beeindruckend.
Is it legal to drive an American police car in Belgium?
byu/Psy-Demon inbelgium
Von Psy-Demon
10 Comments
You may want to consult a lawyer before trying that yourself (I’m not a lawyer!) but my understanding is that it has to be ensured that you can not be mistaken for the actual (Belgian) police. If the car has written “NYPD” all over it, nobody will think you are the local police.
There may be some restrictions for the use of blue lights and sirens, but that’s another issue…
And I understand that the Polish guy just painted a (European) road-legal car. If you instead think about importing an actual US police car, you may need to invest first into some modifications to make it road legal in the EU. Expect also a lot of paperwork!
I don’t see what the problem would be as long as it’s not clearly identifiable as a Belgian police vehicle (so nothing resembling the Belgian police striping) and that you don’t use the attributes of a priority vehicle (blue lights and siren).
If it says sheriffs office then it’s not impersonating an official government agency since Belgium doesn’t have a sheriffs office. We only have a police department. Can’t impersonate something we don’t have.
I’ve seen a american police car 3 months ago on the ring of Antwerp…
In Bruges there is an old german police car with Polizei still on it. Ive been seeing it for years.
I have seen a car drive arround here which is clearly inspired by Japanese police cars, so maybe?
You need permission
No blue lights and not the word “police” and should be alright.
I (who am very much NOT a lawyer) think its probably ok as long as the vehicle passes all the technical checkups and stuff and everything is sorted licenseplate wise, like for any other car.
You’re not allowed to drive a vehicle that could be mistaken for an official police vehicle ambulance, fire dpt vehicle etc but I think in Belgium it would be very hard to make the case that a US police car would be mistaken for an official police vehicle and that you were trying to represent yourself as a police officer.
Although I’m pretty sure that if you used the siren and lights you would probably be in trouble.
There’s a guy driving a replica rijkswacht golf gti. Including lights.
It’s deemed legal, because they’re not an active police force anymore. Can’t use the lights and siren though.
I assume it’s the same here, since they can’t be confused with real Belgian police.