Black and white (police vehicle)
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Black and white is an American slang term for a police car that is painted in large panels of black and white, or generally any "marked" police car. Historically, this scheme is much favoured by North American police forces because it allows the unambiguous recognition of patrol units from a significant distance. However, as the colour scheme is not standardised, each police agency in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. can choose their own colour scheme.
The most common variant of the black and white colour scheme is a white roof and four white doors; the second most common is the two front doors and roof painted white.
In Finland and Sweden, the black and white police cars had black roofs to make them visible in high snow. In European police forces, a colour scheme with blue and white is very common. In Spain, green and white is used by the Civil Guard, and in Germany, green and white was standard, mainly in the past.
Argentina[]
The Federal Police of Argentina use a colour scheme with dark blue, white and blue.
Chevrolet Corsa Mk2 of Argentine Federal Police with old livery
Ford Ranger of Argentine Federal Police with new livery
Ford Ranger of defunct Buenos Aires Metropolitan Police in black and white livery
Armenia[]
Yerevan Municipal Police use a black and white colour scheme.
Yerevan Municipal Police vehicles with black and white livery
Brazil[]
The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro State use a black and white livery. The top half of the car is white and the bottom half black, with the black sloping downwards as it nears the front of the car. Civil Police of São Paulo State vehicles have a white upper half and a black lower half.
Chevrolet Blazer used by Civil Police of São Paulo State
Canada[]
Alberta[]
Calgary Police Service has been replacing its blue and white Ford Crown Victoria cars with black and white Ford Police Interceptor Sedans since as early as September 2013.[1]
Edmonton Police Service returned to the black and white colour scheme for newly acquired vehicles starting in 2011; existing vehicles retain their white colour scheme.
British Columbia[]
Abbotsford Police Department of Abbotsford, British Columbia, now[when?] has a black and white scheme for their vehicles.
Saanich Police have chosen a blue and white version for their cars.
South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service in British Columbia also uses a black and white scheme.
Vancouver, Victoria, Port Moody, New Westminster, and Central Saanich are all using black and white police cars.
West Vancouver Police Department in British Columbia also has started to use the black and white livery.
South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service cruiser
Ontario[]
In 2007, Ontario Provincial Police reverted to a black and white scheme for their fleet. The force used this scheme on their police cars from 1941 to 1989, earning them the nickname "Holsteins" during that period, especially in the 1950s.
An old Ontario Provincial Police car
OPP black and white patrol car
A current OPP cruiser (front)
Chile[]
Until 1998, all Carabineros de Chile vehicles were painted with the same pattern that the LAPD uses; the vehicles are now painted with a pattern that includes green and white. Police uniforms in Chile are all green; the green paint on police vehicles complements the uniforms.[citation needed]
Old Ford Custom V8 Sedan 1951 of Carabineros de Chile
Finland[]
Finnish police vans are colloquially known as the "Musta Maija" ("Black Maria" or "Black Mary"). Since Finland is a bilingual country, police patrol vehicles feature the text "Police" in both Finnish ("Poliisi", on the vehicle's right side) and Swedish ("Polis", on the driver's side). The old vehicles were black and white like Sweden and Norway's; the current[when?] ones are white with two dark blue stripes. in 2016, a revision to the livery added reflective markings to the sides of police vehicles.
Old Finnish police Saab 900 with black and white livery.
Finnish police van colloquially known as the "Musta Maija"
France[]
French police vehicles were[when?] painted like Swedish ones before changing to all white with red/white/blue[clarification needed] striping. In 2018, Paris Police decided to lease 16 eGolfs, painted in a black and white retro style. They were referred to as "pie", French for magpie.
Old French police Renault R5 with black hood and doors
1959 Renault 4CV "Pie" (magpie livery) of Police Nationale
Old French police Renault 4CV Pie with black hood and cut down doors
Paris Police Volkswagen e-Golf in 2020 with pie retro styling
Germany[]
In the past,[when?] German police cars were painted green; this was later changed to green and white, and blue and white. Now,[when?] the standard colour scheme used is silver and blue.
Old Volkswagen Beetle with green and white colours scheme of Schleswig-Holstein Police
Old Borgward Isabella sedan of Bremen Police
Mercedes-Benz T2 (second generation); white and green livery of Berlin Police
Volkswagen Golf Variant TDI, Mk4 (2001-2006) of German Federal Police
Mercedes-Benz Vito (W639) with blue and white livery of German Federal Police
Volkswagen Touareg of German Federal Police
BMW 3 Series (E91) Touring of Bavarian Police with silver and green livery
Patrol car of the German Federal Police, a BMW 5 Series (E61) Touring with silver and blue livery
Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W212) of Hamburg Police
Georgia[]
The new[when?] Georgian police vehicles livery are mainly silver and white.
Georgian police vehicle Ford Taurus Police Interceptor with grey and white livery
Georgian police vehicle Ford Taurus Police Interceptor with black and white livery
Iran[]
During the 20th century, the Iranian police used black and white cars. They now[when?] use green or blue and white.
Volkswagen Beetle used in Iran
Iraq[]
Kurdistan Police use a black and white livery.
Ford Taurus Police Interceptor of Kurdistan police with black and white colour scheme
Israel[]
The Mishteret Yisrael use a new[when?] white and dark blue livery on their cars. The old[when?] one was white and blue.
A Škoda Octavia II (facelift) sedan used by the Mishteret Yisrael
Japan[]
All Japanese police force vehicles are painted and marked in the same ways. Japanese police vehicles are painted black and white with the upper parts of the vehicle painted white. However, motorcycles are usually all white and riot control and rescue vehicles are painted a steel blue.
Nissan Skyline GT-R police car
Toyota Crown police car
A Japanese police car (Nissan Crew)
A Japanese police van (Nissan Caravan)
2012 Toyota Crown police car of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Nissan Cedric patrol car in Japan
4th-gen Subaru Legacy Japanese police car from Aomori Prefecture
4th-gen Subaru Legacy Japanese police car from Aomori Prefecture
Moldova[]
Moldova police uses both blue and white, and black and white vehicles.
Moldovan police Lada Niva
Moldovan police Dacia Logan
Mexico[]
Mexican Federal Police vehicles use a dark blue and white livery.
New Zealand[]
All Traffic Police cars of the Ministry of Transport throughout the 1970s and 1980s were black with a white roof and white doors. This distinguished them from the all-white cars of the New Zealand Police. Additionally, MOT patrol cars used red roof lights, while police cars used all-blue roof lights. The Traffic enforcement functions of the MOT were merged into the New Zealand Police in 1992 and the black and white colour scheme was dropped in favour of the single colour vehicles of the Police. Police vehicles continue to be single-colour, usually white, often with Battenberg markings and lightbars are red and blue.
Black and white traffic enforcement patrol car of the former New Zealand Ministry of Transport
Norway[]
Norwegian Police Service vehicles were previously[when?] painted mostly black, with white around the wheels.
Old Volvo PV544 of Norwegian Police
Old Volkswagen Beetle known as Pelle, a police car from the Norwegian city of Bodø
Pakistan[]
Pakistan National Highways & Motorway Police patrol vehicles are painted in a white and dark blue livery.
Toyota Corolla of Pakistan National Highways & Motorways Police with white and dark blue livery
Portugal[]
Until the mid-1990s, the vehicles of the Lisbon Municipal Police were painted with the same pattern as the Los Angeles Police Department. The black and white livery of the vehicles reflected the colours of the Flag of the City of Lisbon. Since then, vehicles of this police force are painted entirely white, with a stripe along the sides chequered with the black and white gyronny field of the Flag of Lisbon. The old[when?] vehicles of Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP, Public Security Police), are painted with a blue and white colour scheme.
Lisbon Municipal Police Nissan Almera painted white, with chequered black and white side stripes.
Old Volkswagen Beetle of Public Security Police with blue and white colour scheme.
Mitsubishi Carisma (2002) of Public Security Police with old blue and white with a red stripe livery.
Spain[]
Police in Madrid used black and white livery on their cars until 2016. The Civil Guard used[when?] a green and white livery.
Renault Scénic II used by Madrid Municipal Police, Spain.
Peugeot 307 of Spanish Civil Guard.
Sweden[]
Swedish police vehicles were originally painted black and white in the reverse of the Californian-style pattern. Swedish police vehicles had black roofs, doors, trunk and bonnet or black roofs, bonnet and boot. This came out of necessity, due to the heavy snowfall in Sweden as with high snow obscuring everything but the roof, a white roof would be hard to see. Colloquially they were called black-and-white people-catchers, after a grouping of species of birds referred to as Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers.[citation needed]
1974 Plymouth Valiant Swedish police car in the period black and white paint.
1974 Volkswagen Beetle in period black and white (Sweden).
Taiwan[]
Taiwanese police use black and white cars.
Black and white unit of National Police Agency used by Taichung City Police Department, Taiwan.
Turkey[]
Until 1994, Turkish police used black and white livery on their cars.
United Kingdom[]
The old[when?] colour scheme used by United Kingdom police forces prompted the colloquial term of "panda car", or just "panda", to refer a small or medium-sized marked British police car.
The term "panda car" was first used to refer to black police cars with panels that had been painted white to increase their visibility. It was later applied to blue and white police cars.
There is a record of Salford City Police using black and white Hillman Minxs in 1960.
The chief constable of the Lancashire Constabulary referred to the use of blue and white Ford Anglia panda cars in Kirkby in an article in The Times on 26 January 1966.
A Ford Anglia "panda car" of the 1960s
A 1963 Morris Minor 1000 "panda car"
United States[]
Los Angeles Police Department[]
Like most police agencies throughout southern California, Los Angeles Police Department vehicles are ordered painted in black clearcoat with the roof, doors, and pillars painted white from the factory.
The quintessential LAPD black and white
Plymouth Belvedere used in Portland, Oregon
Black and white colour scheme used by Texas Highway Patrol
A Metro Patrol, of Kansas (a company police), Chevrolet Impala
Dodge Charger demonstration police car
Two Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers from two neighboring towns in New Jersey, one being a black and white
1957 Chevrolet Police Car
1974 Dodge Monaco "Bluesmobile" from the movie The Blues Brothers from 1980, with black and white police livery
See also[]
- Battenburg markings
- Jam sandwich (slang)
- Livery
- Panda car
- SWAT vehicle
- Sillitoe tartan
- Aerial roof markings
- Blues and twos
References[]
External links[]
- Police vehicles
- Police culture