Albuquerque Police will be going to black and white squad cars.
Albuquerque — The Albuquerque Police Department will soon have a new look. Mayor Richard J. Berry and Police Chief Raymond Schultz unveiled a new black and white police car Monday that will start arriving in Albuquerque next month.
The Mayor decided to go with a new design after he unveiled a prototype model in November and asked for the public to vote on whether the police department should switch to black and white cars.
About 2,800 people voted on the city’s web site and about 65 percent of them wanted the black and white design. After talking to several community leaders, the Mayor did make some slight changes to the prototype design adding more white to the car.
“After almost 20 years, we felt it was time to give APD a new look,” Mayor Berry said. “We have a very professional Police Department and this design is consistent with APD’s professionalism and with the national trend of most law enforcement agencies.”
The current car design has been in place since 1994 when the police department changed its fleet’s color scheme from blue and white. Currently APD’s fleet is comprised of mostly Ford Crown Victorias. In August, Ford discontinued the Crown Victorias and replaced it with a different model. At the same time, Chevrolet and Dodge started manufacturing police cruisers as well. The city has decided that all new car purchases will be Dodge Chargers. All of the cars are being purchased locally through Meloy Dodge.
The current red, white and blue cars will remain in the fleet until they are eventually phased out over time by the black and white cars. Fourteen black and white cars are expected to arrive in Albuquerque by the end of July DWI unit. There will be 109 cars on the streets within a year.
APD is making the change in part due to recommendations from Homeland Security that all law enforcement go to black and white cars. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, the State Police and APS police all have black and white cars.
“We are excited about the new design and look forward to the new cars arriving in Albuquerque,” Chief Schultz. “This design will be a symbol of the department for years to come.”
