I've been in a paddy wagon once as well. Well twice actually.
I've been in the back of a paddy wagon once.
I'd been at the Brooklyn Hotel (pub) in George st one night, watching a band. A hard rock cover band. Played stuff like the Stones, Led Zep, George Thorughgood, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple etc.... They were quite good and we used to go and see them there fortnightly or so. I was 17 at the time.
The gig finished at midnight.
Myself and a couple of my Eels supporting mates were mingling on the footpath outside the pub afterwards with the leaving crowd.
A paddy wagon turns up, 2 cops get out and put myself and my two mates in the back of the wagon. Forcefully and no questions asked. Other people started protesting saying that we hadn't done anything wrong and the cops just told them all to back off and they were taking us away. They said that they had received reports of bad behavior on our part. There was a bit of argy bargy.
Anyhow, one of the cops I knew, who was a constable working at The Rocks police station at the time. The other was his Sargeant. We had pre-arranged for them to pick us up and give us a lift out to the SCG to queue up outside the ground ahead of the following days 1981 Parra vs Newtown Grand Final. My mates and I had GA tickets and it was a free for all on the old SCG Hill when the gates opened to get the best spots. Hence why we queued up overnight for 9 or so hours. It was the done thing those days. By the time the gates opened, the queue went back to Anzac Parade.
True story.