Police Forces across the country moved to using the Mini Cooper in 1965 - which coincided with the cars total dominance of the Rallying scene of the time, and stopped in 1970. With a newly evolved 1275cc engine, un-parallelled handling and reasonable storage space, it was to prove a useful tool in the fight against crime with Britains new motorway networks allowing thieves a quicker escape route than before.
Forces also adopted other top-end models, such as the Sunbeam Tiger, MGB-GT, Lotus Cortina and Jaguars, and although smaller than its counterparts, nobody could argue with the design which combined such incredible manoueverability with fantastic performance.

THE OKD LINE-UP - WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Cars in green type are known to exist in one form or another.

KKD: 440- E OKD: 686 - 709F SKD: 215 – G VKA: 290 – 317H XLV: 101J-127J

Of all the Police Minis, this is the most well known. Peter Laidler - an ex-policeman, has owned this car since 1982. Often heard admitting that 'If I'd have known it was a Police car I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it!' his car is nevertheless a hugely original example,if you leave out the black roof , the lack of overriders,and the 4.5" wheels.
Many parts seen on the car are direct from the Police warehouses that kept the spare roofboxes etc, and Peter spends plenty of time visiting shows far and wide. Until recently, these two cars were the only ex-Police Cooper S's  ever to be seen together at shows. Now, another of the fleet has re-appeared after a complete restoration, OKD 686F, so with  with restoration of 686F and its appearance at Beaulieu 2007 and 2008, that has just changed.

Subject of an eight year restoration by Dave Davies,Registrar of the ex-Police Car section of the Mini Cooper Register, this is the sister car to 698F. Now residing in Seattle USA, no expense was spared to get this car right.The bodyshell was sprayed in the wrong shade of Police White, and had to be re-done in BMC WT2. That's attention to detail! With parts from different places like the radio, from the West Midlands Bus Preservation Society, and the acorn blue light and sirens from the Fire Service, it is easy to see why these restorations take more time than most because of the lack of archivists at Police Forces these days.The full story of Daves restoration can be found in the February 2002 edition of Mini Magazine, probably available as a back copy.

Owned by Paul Harman and under restoration - this is the original shot of 700F, the Press & Publicity car of the OKD fleet. Never seen as of now - perhaps it never will be.

Mk I Austin Cooper S, which judging by its location, was a Midlands Area Car. The subtle differences between this and its Mk II counterparts can be easily seen ; a bell located on the front grille which was common on Rover 100s, along with blue lights, and the roofbox which, although similar in design to the Mk II, has no sirens. Round type wing mirrors, and 3.5" all steel ventilated Cooper S wheels, painted body colour. Its number plate would indicate to a 1963 build date, although the exact date is unknown.

                                         VKA 303H. Now resides in America

This Mk II Austin Cooper S is an example from the West Midlands Force. It demonstrates the individuality that each batch was given by its respective area. On this car, note the Lucas Spotlamp and double roof aerials. The roof box is of a similar type to the Liverpool cars. Some of the Mk I heritage still remains; the rectangular wing mirrors, and the grease nipple shrouds which can just be seen at the rear end of the sill, deleted in October '67. 3.5" all steel ventilated Cooper S wheels, now extremely rare indeed, stayed true to the production car specification.

Manchester Police line-up of Cooper S cars, circa 1968. Note that in common with the Liverpool cars, grease nipple shrouds are used, but two wing mirrors are apparent. 'POLICE' lettering is more reserved than Liverpool, and the roof boxes look entirely different, with no sirens and a heavily recessed blue light. An arial is centrally placed towards the rear of the roof, and 3.5" wheels are used.

Thanks to Paul Beach for the next two - whereabouts unknown, but above is a Mk III Cooper S, Liverpool again. Another Liverpool Area Panda car next door