Police launch new patrol cars with older color scheme

The Moscow Police Department rolled out one of its two new black-and-white Ford Police Interceptors on Wednesday, which will eventually replace the rest of the force's patrol fleet and harks back to the traditionally recognized color scheme.

"It turns a lot of heads," said Officer Joe Knickerbocker, who has had the opportunity to get in the driver's seat. "So far, it handles good in town, but I haven't had to put my foot into it yet."

When production of Crown Victorians was discontinued last year, Police Chief David Duke said he worked with the public works and streets/fleets departments to settle on the 2013 Ford Police Interceptor for future fleet replacements in black and white. Two Interceptors were purchased this year with a budget of about $55,000 per vehicle, which includes installation of new equipment. Lt. Paul Kwiatkowski said another two Interceptors are budgeted for purchase this year.

Changing the familiar white Crown Victorians with blue and yellow stripes along their sides to a traditional black-and-white patrol car was envisioned as far back as 2008, but budget pushed back plans until this year.

"People recognize the black and white as a police vehicle more so," Kwiatkowski said. "We've had a lot of people come up and say it just looks real sharp."

There are 10 marked vehicles in the fleet and an obsolescence plan for replacing each vehicle after it's spent five years on patrol. The older models will be surplused once the fleet is replaced, Kwiatkowski said, but the department is still considering whether to repaint the Crown Vics to black and white to fall in line with the new color scheme until then.

Pullman's blue-on-blue patrol cars are also moving toward the retro black-and-white look as the police department put out one of its two new Interceptors two weeks ago, Cmdr. Chris Tennant said.

"It seems to be popular, apparently, so we did," he said. "What was old is new again."

The Pullman Police Department purchased one utility and sedan model each with the latter to roll out in a week or two, Tennant said. There are seven vehicles in Pullman's patrol fleet, and Tennant said they will also likely be replaced by the Interceptors depending on how they fare this winter, adding the all-wheel drive capability of the vehicle played a good part in the department's decision.

"The residential areas on the hill are snow-packed and you need chains, so we're hoping to see how the vehicles work in the winter and then kind of make a decision as to whether this is the kind of vehicle we want to stick with. ... There's a couple of cars earmarked for 2013 in the budget, and we'll most likely stay with the Ford Interceptors."

Both Moscow and Pullman ditched the old-style police lights in favor of an LED bar that can be programmed to flash and direct traffic intermittently. Kwiatkowski said the department's second Interceptor is still at the city shop.

"We're kind of working the bugs out of this one to get the officers' comfort in how things are positioned," he said, adding, as time goes on, departments are seeing more and more equipment loaded into vehicles to accommodate a multitude of situations. "... Officers are anxious to drive it, that's for sure. Everybody wants to take a turn in it."

Brandon Macz can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 238, or by email to bmacz@dnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonMacz.