Cars, vans and motorcycles, in blue and yellow livery, racing to incidents with pulsating lights and blaring sirens are part of the everyday street scene in our towns.But it wasn't always like that... For the first hundred years or so of their existence, the police mostly walked everywhere. Even the pedal-cycle, which became an icon of the British bobby, was frowned on initially and as for the petrol engine some chief constables wanted to hound all cars and motorbikes from the roads; certainly not use them for police work.This book provides an introduction to the fascinating story of what happened in between and shows how police forces have always had to react to society's changes, particularly the growth of motor transport. It explains how the enlargement of the police fleet came also as a result of two world wars, developments in communications, shortage of manpower, new towns and motorway building, public order and terrorism.Well-illustrated and in full color, it portrays a progression from the days of black and dark blue through an extraordinary range of individual liveries carried by boats and aircraft in addition to motor vehicles of every description.Fasten your seat belts and let's book on "