The Safety Patrol are a special task force seen within the city of Trolberg, that are tasked with hunting down and capturing any dangerous creatures that got into the city, and scouting for potential threats before they reach Trolberg. They appear in the graphic novel series, the animated series, and the novelization.
The safety patrol officers have both genders among their ranks.
Uniform
In the animated series, the uniform of the safety patrol officers consists of:
- An overcoat with a badge. In season 1, the overcoat was purple, but in Season 2 it has been changed to brown.
- Black pants
- a cape
- purple boots
- a purple hat with a wide brim, yellow band and a white feather.
Erik Ahlberg and Deputy Gerda also wear a similar uniform, but they are both colored red.
In the graphic novels, the uniform looks almost identical to that in the animated series, except the cape is slightly different and both cape and overcoat are colored red. In "Hilda and the Black Hound", all members wear hats like the one seen in the animated series, except without the feather. In "Hilda and the Mountain King", only their leader, Erik Ahlberg, wears a hat with feather like the one seen in the animated series, while other members wear caps.
Known members
- Erik Ahlberg
- Gerda Gustav
- Keeper of the Bell
- David's mom (movie only)
- Selby
Equipment
Weapons
In the animated series, the safety patrol so far have been seen using guns capable of firing nets for capturing creatures.
In the graphic novels and the movie, they have special guns called torches, that can fire a ray which, on Trolls, has the same effect as sunlight, instantly petrifying them. In "Hilda and the Mountain King", they are revealed to have a huge, cannon-like version of this torch, which was even capable of killing the gigantic Trundle. In The movie, these weapons are also introduced, and explicitely stated to be a new invention.
Vehicles
The Safety Patrol has several cars:
- 2-door patrol cars with a red and blue gumball light on the roof and equipped with a siren, like a police car
- A truck.
- Off-road vehicles equipped with several anti-Troll defenses, such as troll repellant and an inflatable shield.
They also have their own base of operations, and at least 1 airship.
History
The safety patrol is first seen in "Chapter 13: The Black Hound", when The Black Hound is stalking Trolberg. They are tasked with hunting it down, not aware however that the Hound is capable of entering Nowhere Space and thus can hide anywhere.
Eventually, they track down the Hound to Hilda's house and tried to catch it, but their nets were too small. Before they could try anything else, Hilda, Johanna and the two Tontu's lured Jellybean away from the house and towards the city gate. The patrol members gave chase with their own cars, but lost them when the two Nisse send Johanna's car and Jellybean into the Nowhere Space of the outside world.
In "Hilda and the Mountain King" and The movie adaptation, the Safety Patrol was seen scouting the area outside Trolberg for trolls, putting bells on any petrified troll they encountered. They also developped a new weapon for fighting Trolls; a giant version of the torch. When Trundle led the other Trolls in an attack on Trolberg, the Safety Patrol deployed this weapon and succsfully killed Trundle with it. Hilda however was able to convince them not to fight the other trolls, since that would wake up Amma and mean the end of Trolberg.
Gallery
Trivia
- In the novel "Hilda and the Nowhere Space", it is stated the Safety Patrol has no authority outside Trolberg, and thus can't investigate the Black Hound's lair in The Great Forest (which Hilda discovered). This contradicts the graphic novel "Hilda and the Mountain King", where the Safety Patrol is seen tracking down and belling trolls outside Trolberg, though this may be Erik Ahlberg overstepping his bounds.
- In the novels and tie-in series it's stated that Trolberg has a own Police force, meaning that the Safety Patrol is a seperate department tasked with keeping an eye on trols and other creatures. In the animated series the police force isn't mentioned.
- Once a year, the safety patrol organizes an essay contest for elementary school students about a topic related to creatures and safety. In "Chapter 1: The Troll Circle", Hilda won this contest with her essay about trolls. "Hilda and the Time Worm" gives the name of this contest as ASPECT (Annual Safety Patrol Essay Contest Trophy).
- According to a tv commercial seen on David's television in "Hilda and the Mountain King", the phone number of the Safety Patrol is 020-7627-9245. In real life, this phone number does exist and is a special number to report lost dogs and cats to Battersea, a United Kingdom based animal care organisation specialised in dogs and cats
