Times change and in the late 60’s and early 70’s, many large city police departments found themselves looking for ways to deal with the increase of violent behaviors, including the increasing number of parties willing to barricade themselves in various structures. This became a very dangerous situation for the street officer, who was not equipped or trained to deal with them. Many police departments started to assemble specially trained and equipped teams that many cities called S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons And Tactical). Kansas City chose to call theirs the Support Unit, which was the forerunner of today’s Tactical Unit. Kansas City Support Unit took the additional step of acquiring an armored vehicle and a M-20 was found at a National Guard unit. Many of the Support Unit officers humorously dubbed it the “Love Bug”, the rest of us just called it the “tank” in reference to its military roots.

The M-20 needed to be modified for the way the Support Unit wanted to use it, and were able to find help in the private sector. Armco Steel supplied the metal for the new “turret”, the side escape door, and for the fold down ram, which could be used to open a door on a building, or to penetrate at wall to deploy gas. Midway Ford helped with the addition of a new Ford truck engine, an automatic transmission, and a Mustang floor shifter. The General Motors Fairfax plant applied the dark green paint.

The M-20 was used many times throughout the 1970’s and early 1980’s. I have heard many stories from the many officers whom had experiences with it. One story that usually comes up is when the M-20 was used to breech a door on a house on a barricaded party call. The M-20 successfully breeched the door, but had found itself on the floor that could not support it’s weight. The M-20 crashed through the floor, virtually destroying the house. In 1975, the M-20 was used in a “B” movie called Bucktown. The big scene was filmed at the helicopter unit where it was normally stored.

The M-20 was eventually replaced in the 1980’s with another, more modern armored vehicle, a V-100. The M-20 went to the Missouri Highway Patrol where it was repainted black and used for another decade. It was finally retired to the pasture in back of the Highway Patrol garage where it sat for another decade. The Kansas City Police Historical Society, with the assistance of the KCPD was able to help bring this piece of history back home to Kansas City.

The M-20 is currently awaiting cosmetic restoration in Kansas City. We believe it will be the centerpiece of the future Kansas City Police Museum. If you have a story you would like to share about this vehicle, please contact the KCPHS, we want to hear from you.