Dallas Police Department Debuts New Black-and-White

DALLAS - The Dallas Police Department (DPD) unveiled its new black-and-white ride in front of DPD headquarters on Oct. 20, reported the Dallas Observer. With two of the new black-and-white models already in its fleet, DPD will make the switch from its current blue vehicles and begin phasing in the rest of the new models next year.

Lt. Dale Barnard, DPD fleet manager, said 266 of the brand-new cars will hit the streets in late February.

The vehicle has intense LED lights, silk-screened graphics, and "Serving Since 1881" motto plastered on the sides.

The design of the new vehicle was voted on by the department several years ago, Barnard told the Observer. "Eighty percent voted for the black-and-white. And we tested blue and black [logos] both with officers, the city manager, all the chiefs, and various other people around the department, and overwhelmingly everyone liked the blue the best because it was a way of blending old and new."

Barnard added that the selected font is intended to "stand out" as "something unique to Dallas," in addition to making the writing highly reflective at night. "It was a way of blending old and new without looking generic...As big as we are, we should make a statement, and we looked at various color schemes, and none of them worked. People didn't like black and didn't like solid blue, because it looked too plain Jane."

Dallas hasn't had black-and-white police vehicles since the late 1950s, said Barnard. "Then we went to solid black and stayed that way for nine, 10 years. Then, in the mid-'60s, they went to solid white till the blue cars came in in 1992. Before that, they were solid white with the "D" logo on the door."

DPD's fleet is currently comprised of several different makes and models, including Chevrolet Impala and Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, and will be shifting over to Dodge Charger for patrol.