Toronto police unveil new cruiser design

By News Staff

Toronto police unveiled the new design for their cruisers on Monday, after criticism for the dark grey ‘stealth’ vehicles released last year.

The new design was created by students at Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media.

Police say more than 18,000 responses were received to a 14-question survey released to the public and the membership regarding the new design.

The new design is primarily grey in colour with white doors on the side doors and the words ‘Toronto Police’ in bold, reflective black lettering.

Police chief Mark Saunders says the design achieves a balance between visibility and professionalism.

Most Toronto police cars are white with blue and red stripes. That design has been around since 2006. Before that, cruisers were yellow. In September of 2016, the dark grey vehicles hit the streets, to some criticism.

Earlier this year, police spokesperson Meaghan Gray told CityNews that members of the public have said that easy recognition of cruisers is important to them.

“These are the front-line vehicles that respond to calls for service and patrol your neighbourhoods, so visibility is certainly very important for us,” said Gray.

There are some things that can’t be changed, Toronto police said. For example, the “T” on the roof is so helicopters can tell what city the vehicle is from.

Torontonians can expect to see the newly designed cars on the street by November 2017 with all frontline vehicles being replaced in the next five years.

“As the cars need to be life cycled out, they will be replaced with the cars with the new design,” said Gray. As a result, there will be no additional cost to Toronto Police Service to implement the new design, police said.


Related stories:

Toronto police launch survey to help design look of new squad cars
EXCLUSIVE: Toronto Police cruisers becoming more stealth-like
Video: Toronto police want your help to pick design of new cruiser


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