The Toronto Police Service unveiled the new look of their police cruisers on Monday morning after undertaking public consultations on the design this past spring.
Last year, Toronto police revealed the new design of the service’s frontline vehicles but ultimately halted the rollout following concerns about the “militaristic" design of the dark grey and white cruisers.
A motion approved by city council last November asked the Toronto Police Services Board to review the colour scheme and the police service subsequently promised to undertake public consultations and revisit the design.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders showed off a prototype outside Toronto police headquarters on Monday morning.
Speaking to reporters at the event, Saunders said 18,000 people took part in a survey on how the cruisers should look and Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media created a design based on those survey results.
"Now that everyone has had a say, we’ve come to a final model," Saunders said, adding that after more than a decade of the same look, he felt it was time for a change.
"I hope it communicates professionalism. It’s got great style to it and I hope it is visible enough that the public will not have any concerns with identifying a marked police car if one of them is driving down the streets."
He said that the service plans to roll out the new design on the cruisers as soon as possible and added that implementing the new design will not have an impact on the police budget.
“It’s a natural transition that is going to be happening with the changing of vehicles,” he said.
