EVERETT — Goodbye, green. Hello, retro.
Newly minted Snohomish County’s Sheriff John Lovick is rolling out an old look for his deputies’ patrol cars. The sheriff’s office plans to replace the white-and-green paint scheme with old-time black-and-white cruisers.
“It’s a tradition,” Lovick said. “It’s distinct. We’re going to stand out.”
More police departments across the country are changing back to black-and-white patrol cars made popular in part by classic television shows such as “Dragnet,” “Adam-12,” and “Andy Griffith.” Mountlake Terrace and Tulalip police drive black-and-white cars.
“Just like when you see a Joe truck you know it means ice cream. Black-and-white means police,” said sheriff’s Lt. John Flood. “When the black-and-white shows up, you know it’s the police. It catches your eye.”
The sheriff’s office isn’t planning to change the color of its uniforms.
Nor is it going to have to spend extra money on the new paint jobs.
Every year about this time, the sheriff’s office orders about 40 new patrol cars to replace aging vehicles. A few administrators approached Lovick with the idea for a new color scheme. The sheriff wanted to know what the deputies thought.
The deputies overwhelmingly chose the old-time style, Flood said. They liked the tradition.
Studies show that the black-and-white cars give the illusion of more cruisers, Flood said.
The color scheme also improves visibility, University of Washington psychology professor Geoffrey Loftus said.
“If you increase the contrast of any object, it’s more visible. You can’t get much more contrast than black and white,” he said. “Not to mention, people do associate black and white with police cars.”
The first batch of black-and-white sheriff’s cars is expected to hit the streets later this summer. It likely will take about five years to get all 220 patrol vehicles swapped out.
The majority of the patrol vehicles are Ford Crown Victorias. Used hard, they typically are replaced after they’ve logged 110,000 miles to avoid spiraling maintenance costs, Flood said. The lights, sirens, computers and other specialty equipment added to the patrol cars generally are reused for up to a decade, he said.
The sheriff’s office has about $1.2 million earmarked to swap out 42 vehicles this year. The sheriff’s office pays a monthly fee for maintenance, fuel and vehicle replacement.
The two-tone paint job costs about $600 more than the solid white cars, but that added cost should be offset by the new, simpler graphics on the cars, said Brad Graff, equipment supervisor for the county’s fleet management.
In the long run, the sheriff’s office will save about $500 per car because of the simpler design, which includes stars on two doors and the word “sheriff” on the doors and trunk. Fleet management often has to hire a graphics expert to install the current decals, which feature green vinyl stripes running the length of the cars, Graff said.
“The new decals just aren’t as expensive,” he said.
Over time, the sheriff’s office has experimented with “pumpkin” patrol cars painted bright orange, others painted gold, some green. The patrol car paint scheme was last changed after former Sheriff Rick Bart took office in 1995.
Lovick got a peek at the new design Thursday outside the courthouse building. Deputies arranged to surprise him with the first newly painted patrol car. The gesture left him searching for words.
“I’m almost never speechless. I just don’t know what to say,” Lovick told about 20 deputies gathered outside. “I’m honored to be a part of the sheriff’s office. I don’t know how you do so much. This is going to be a mean crime-fighting machine.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
