Japanese Police Deploy RoboCops Inspired by Patlabor

The Patlabor franchise has come to life with a full mecha patrol unit erected by the Japanese police. While mecha fans in the United States might be more familiar with the likes of Mobile Suit Gundam, the Patlabor franchise has carved out its own legacy with numerous successful entries. Originally debuting as an original manga series from Headgear with Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday in the late 1980s, the franchise has since expanded to include a long-running anime series, sequels, movies, and much more. Now, it also boasts full recreations of its central mecha units.

The series follows Patlabors, which are labor patrol units designed to tackle labor crimes, as they take on various foes. The Ibaraki Prefectural Police in Japan have now created a full life-sized AV-98 Ingram, a central mecha from the series. Showcased on their official social media page, the police shared, “‘Ibaraki Prefectural Police x Mobile Police Patlabor.’ In order to protect the safety and security of the citizens of the prefecture, we carry out various police activities such as crime prevention and traffic safety, using strong enforcement skills like Ingram.”

With special messages also highlighting the importance of road safety, this initiative offers a fun attraction for fans of the original manga and anime. Patlabor has released a variety of anime shows, films, video games, and more over the decades since its inception. However, not much of it is currently available for streaming in the United States. The series and films are available through limited Blu-ray and DVD releases, but they are not widely accessible for immediate viewing.

The Patlabor franchise sets the stage with this premise, “In the future, advanced robotics has created heavy robots (‘labors’) for use in a variety of functions: construction, fire-fighting, military, and more. However, though the robots are only machines, their operators are also only human–and humans sometimes turn to crime. Since a heavy labor unit can be a dangerous weapon, the police of the future are set to fight fire with fire, using advanced patrol labor units, ‘patlabors.’ This is the story of the Second Special Vehicles Division, a motley crew of patlabor policemen and women doing their best to fight crime and live a normal life.”