Gilroy
– The Gilroy Police Department wants to get back to basics with
a fleet of black and white patrol cars.
The move away from the white cars with blue stripes that
officers now drive is a move toward a traditional police look,
sported by more and more departments across the country, and the
majority of departments in Santa Clara County.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – The Gilroy Police Department wants to get back to basics with a fleet of black and white patrol cars.
The move away from the white cars with blue stripes that officers now drive is a move toward a traditional police look, sported by more and more departments across the country, and the majority of departments in Santa Clara County.
Some of the department’s younger officers sparked the idea, said Sgt. John Sheedy.
In a survey of all the department’s officers by the Gilroy Police Officers Association, more than 98 percent supported switching to black and white cars, with new graphics.
Officers want the greater presence that would come along with the traditional cars.
“I don’t know that you’d call it a safety issue, but the appearance of a black-and-white stands out, I think, from farther away than the white cars with the blue stripes on them,” Sheedy said.
The Police Officers Association recently asked City Council for support in changing the color scheme of the fleet’s 22 marked patrol cars.
“We believe the community will more readily recognize a black and white police vehicle when in need of assistance,” wrote Cpl. Jason Kadluboski, POA president. “It will also bring back a historic image of when the Gilroy Police Department patrolled the city streets in black and white vehicles.”
The last black and white GPD patrol car was taken off the streets in 1967. The department started purchasing and phasing in white cars six years before that, said Sheedy, citing information from Jim Laizure, Gilroy’s first police chief. The reason for the original switch: heat.
“The patrol cars didn’t have air conditioning in them, and in the summertime, it was so hot in those cars, sitting in the sun,” Sheedy said.
It will take about four years to convert the GPD fleet to all black and white cars, and will not cost the city any more money than the white cars would.
“That was a concern that we had – that it might be more expensive,” Capt. Scot Smithee said. “But when we researched it last year, we found that wasn’t the case.”
Instead of re-painting the patrol cars now used, the department will purchase new black and white cars to replace outgoing white ones. Cars are generally evaluated when they rack up about 85,000 miles, Smithee said. The department has an active maintenance program, so some cars surpass 100,000 miles.
“We do a cost-benefit analysis,” Smithee said. “A huge percentage of the time, those cars are just sitting in idle, so while they may have 85,000 to 100,000 miles, if you consider the running time, it’s actually much more than that.”
By 2005, GPD will have four black-and-whites on patrol – two Ford Crown Victorias and two Chevy Tahoes. By 2006, seven more will be added.
The department is still working on the new graphics for the black and white cars. Smithee said officers were leaning toward posting a city seal and the words “Gilroy Police” on the cars’ white doors.
At a recent City Council and GPD retreat, Chief Gregg Giusiana said the department has no objection to the move because the cost for the black-and-whites is the same.
Councilman Bob Dillon also said he has no problem with the proposed switch.
“My feeling is, if the cops want black and white cars, since there’s no budget issues associated with it, they should get them,” Dillon said. “I think getting back to more traditional cars is about getting recognized. They’ll be more visible than they currently are.”
“Trends” in police car colors have gone back and forth, officers say.
“Definitely in the state of California, you’ll see a lot of agencies in the past couple of years have gone back to traditional black and white patrol cars,” Sheedy said.
