Jan Hogendoorn scanned this October 1954 photo of a fleet of CJ-3B's being delivered to the Police ("Politie") in The Hague ("Den Haag"), Netherlands.
Jan says, "The municipal police of my hometown The Hague used the Jeep since 1946. The first jeeps (MB/GPW) came from American surplus depot in a village
named Suippes (near Reims) in France. The Police Corps replaced the wartime jeeps in 1949 with Willys Universal Jeeps (model CJ-3A) and in 1954 bought a number of Universal Jeeps, model CJ-3B, from NEKAF ('Nederlandse Kaiser-Frazer') in Rotterdam. Three CJ-3B's of that delivery are known to still exist: the registration numbers are NS-88-15, NS-88-20 and NS-88-23."
"The color of the Hague Police CJ-3B Jeeps was black and the wheels were red (standard colors from the factory.) The older types (MB/GPW and CJ-3A) were dark blue. The color dark blue was ordered by Germans for all police vehicles in 1943 and for some Dutch police vehicles dark blue is still the color. It's possible that some CJ-3A's were painted black after the arrival of the CJ-3B's.
"This photo of a parade of Police CJ-3A's and CJ-3B's was taken on 13 February 1957 during the installation of the new mayor of the city of The Hague."
Jan also scanned this excellent 1960 black & white photo (100K JPEG) which we colorized for The CJ3B Page. He comments, "The Police added vertical sliding doors on their Jeeps to protect their men against the weather. In the summer season some Jeeps found duty on the beach watching the swimmers in the dangerous North Sea.
"The pier in the background was under construction. The policeman behind the wheel is Cor Dijkema who lent me this picture many years ago. In 1955 Cor Dijkema saw the possibilities of the Jeep as an ambulance for the beaches. Before the arrival of the Jeep ambulances the victims had to be transported by donkeys to the road."
Ironically, in the background of the photo you can see the hind end of one of those donkeys.
This sketch drawn by Cor Dijkema was the insipration for the conversion of Jeeps for use as beachwatch ambulances by the Police Corps. The concept dates from 1955, just before the the CJ-3B's were added to the roster, and it appears to show a dark blue CJ-3A. It also appears to include a hand winch with rescue rope.
This handmade model served as a trophy awarded annually during the late 1950's and 60's to the best police beachwatch team in The Hague. Jan says, "The Police Corps called it the 'Buijze-prize', named for the first chief of the beach detachment. The coastline of The Hague is about 11 kilometers long and there were 4 watchhouses, each with its own team.
"Every year there was an organized competition between the teams involving lifesaving with lines and by swimming. The winning team got the trophy for one year in their watchhouse. I don't know who made the model, but it still exists in the police station near the beach."
Thanks to Jan Hogendoorn for the documentation of this remarkable group of Jeeps. -- Derek Redmond
See more Police Service Jeeps.
Also on The CJ3B Page, see a Rotterdam Police Jeep restored by Erik van de Peppel.
See more NEKAF Jeeps in the Netherlands and more Jeeps Around the World.
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