Toronto police have found a new design for its cruisers nearly a year after pulling its ‘stealth grey’ cars from the streets due to mounting criticism over the colour scheme.
The new cruiser, unveiled Monday by Chief Mark Saunders behind Toronto police headquarters, features a two-toned hybrid approach with a dark grey front and rear-end and white doors.
“I hope it communicates professionalism,” Saunders said. “It’s got a great style to it. I hope it’s visible enough that the public will not have any concerns with identifying a marked police car.”
READ MORE: Toronto police launch consultation on cruisers after criticism of ‘stealth grey’ cars
A public consultation was launched earlier this year asking for feedback on what the vehicles should look like. The final design was created with the help of Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media.
In a report to the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB), police said they received more than 17,000 completed surveys from residents and 1,400 responses from police employees.
“The public and the T.P.S. agreed on 80 per cent of the design elements with notable differences on the base colour (white vs. black or grey) and the colour of the “swoosh” seen across the doors,” the report said.
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“The design options were compared against the survey results and ultimately, a car design was selected that represents a compromise between the public and the T.P.S. member feedback.”
According to survey results, 47 per cent of residents favoured a white base colour while 34 per cent of police employees favoured a grey base colour.
The move came after Toronto City Council approved a motion in November 2016 calling on the TPSB to maintain the current white vehicles with red-and-blue stripes “due to growing public concern about the military-style police cruisers.”
Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray told Global News at the time the new design was aimed at modernizing the look of the fleet. She said the last major redesign was in the mid-1980s.
“When we put out the survey, there were certain things we had to make sure that were mandatory. One of the key points, it has to be highly visible,” Saunders said.
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“Front-line police vehicles under the Police Services Act have to be highly visible. The others were highly visible, but there were questions and issues with whether or not people thought it was visible enough.”
Approximately 550 of the more than 1,600 police vehicles will have the new design. Police said the first cruiser with the design is now in service and the fleet will be gradually updated over the next five years.
Police said the design change won’t have an impact on the police service’s budget as vehicles will be repainted on an as-needed basis or as vehicles are replaced.
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