The Real Reason Cop Cars Became Black and White

Comments · 5

• RI

  @Richard-u9m3m · 3 weeks ago

  I've heard that the first black and white cop cars were in Kansas City. The story behind it was that cops were falling asleep in their cars.

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• WA

  @WalterKowsh · 2 weeks ago

  You’re so California-centric in your approach. In NYC, items such as Police Car’s, referred to in NYPD speak as “RMPs” (an acronym for “Radio Motor Patrol” the service type originated by automobile operations within the Department’s area and also an additional associate acronym “REP” which now stands for “Radio Emergency Patrol” and to my recollection may also have been called “REM” for “Radio Emergency Motor” or “RME” for “Radio Motor Emergency” that &nbsp;is used to describe the Emergency Service Unit (ESU) vehicles assigned to each patrol division ( the collection of precincts within a patrol borough, a term that was originally associated with the City’s Borough that are usually coterminous with the County’s within the City of NY with exceptions, but have since been enlarged to encompass segments of the political Boroughs, color schemes were written down, and researched, and contain a historically related background to the founding of the NYPD and other County, City, Town, and Village Police Departments. <br>The NYPD’s color scheme is derived from the colors of &nbsp;Department’s Flag which are Bright Green, White, and Dark Blue. However the cars were actually painted until 1973 or 1974 with a white top, a medium green body, and black (not Blue) fenders. This was altered in the ’73 or ’74 model year to an Electric Blue (similar to “Petty Blue”) available on Chrysler-Plymouth products for those years with a white top and a white reflective tape strip running across the width of the side of the vehicles body and the addition of a decal on the front doors of the RMPs and REPs. Lettering was in matching Electric Blue Colored lettering for white surfaces and white for Electric blue colored surfaces. These vehicles had in addition to full power accessories, air conditioning, and the police gum balls or single rotating red light within a dome shaped globe with light bars containing public address systems. The electric blue was chosen because the Police Commissioner had launched an “integrity campaign” following Serpico’s allegation of widespread corruption within &nbsp;the NYPD as documented by the so-called “Knapp Commission” and also a rebranding of the look of the NYPD uniform by adopting a Department shoulder patch that became its symbol and changing Police shirts (Blouse’s) from dark blue to a medium blue that was described as the “Mister Goodwrench” look a characterization of the model mechanic displayed in General Motors advertisements used to counter the claims of faulty design, &nbsp;manufacture, and service of its vehicle lines. &nbsp; <br>The change to completely white colored with blue tape stripping and lettering accompanying the Department’s uniform shoulder parch logo on vehicles occurred in the early 1980s as a realization that Mercedes-Benz has conducted a study on vehicles involved in accidents and found that yellow or cream colored cars followed by white colored vehicles were involved in less accidents that dark colored vehicles with black having the worse collision record. And also that the Department was having to pay a large amount of money to have the vehicles painted with a “SPO” (Special Production Option”) paint scheme as opposed to a “RPO” (Regular Production Option) color like white.

• MA

  @markst.germain9286 · 3 weeks ago

  Costs and contrast.

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• CA

  @catkeys6911 · 1 month ago

  It&apos;s all there in black &amp; white.

  1