Typically, the police exist to protect and help the public, but the Toronto Police Service is now asking the people of that city for some help -- to choose the latest look for its cop cars.
The Toronto police actually just completed the process of redesigning its cars' livery, but applied it to just 79 cruisers before public complaints halted work. That prompted the police department to open a public survey to find a look more appealing to the city's residents than the drab grey design the police chief chose late last year.
Chances are, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders wouldn't have had much luck choosing a winner at that time: all three designs presented to the city used grey as a base colour.
Cop cars come in all shapes and sizes and apparently generate polarized opinions. To that end, the Toronto police cruiser survey asks what characteristic (Professionalism, visibility, authority or reassurance) the cars should project; what the base colour should be (grey is one of the options); whether the new design should keep the current cars' "swoosh" and where and how the department's crest and motto should appear.
Whatever design is chosen will replace the white, red and blue look shown below, but it won't be applied force-wide right away: the Toronto police service has about 600 cruisers, and the batch already done in the controversial paint job will be left as-is to keep the project within budget. The survey closes on May 9; the results will be presented to the city's police services board with a decision and announcement to follow.
