Police watercraft

Police watercraft are boats or other vessels that are used by police agencies to patrol bodies of water. They are usually employed on major rivers,^[1] in enclosed harbors near cities or in places where a stronger presence than that offered by the harbormaster or coast guard is needed.

Police boat of the NYPD Harbor Unit in 2006

Police boats sometimes have high-performance engines in order to catch up with fleeing fugitives on the water. They have been used since the beginning of the 20th century.^[2]

Types of police boats

• Patrol boat
• Motorboat
• Airboat
• Rigid-hulled inflatable boat

Gallery of police boats

• 
  Boats of the Bermuda Police Service Marine Section at Barr's Bay
• 
  Combined police/fireboat in Bremen, Germany
• 
  Police patrol boats in Helsinki, Finland
• 
  Police boat, Liverpool, England, October 2009
• 
  London Metropolitan Police boat Gabriel Franks on the Thames in 2005
• 
  London Metropolitan Police boat John Harriott IV on the Thames
• 
  London Metropolitan Police boat Nina Mackay II on the Thames in 2013
• 
  SAFE Boats 33' RIB of the Los Angeles Port Police
• 
  Netherlands Police boats in the Biesbosch in 2008
• 
  Netherlands Police jet ski on the Lek 2012.
• 
  New South Wales Police Force vessel OPV Nemesis
• 
  New South Wales Police Force boat patrolling Port Jackson.
• 
  Anti terrorism Police boat in Venice
• 
  Israeli maritime police Defender-class boat Hazon and water scooter in Eilat Marina, Israel

See also

• Coast guard
• Fire boat
• Harbourmaster
• Water police