Story posted Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Police Roll Out New Squad Decals, Paint Job
By RICHARD MAYER Assistant Managing Editor
Some Mt. Prospect police squad cars are sporting a new look these days, with the remaining fleet undergoing changes by the end of this summer.
Residents might be familiar with the vehicles displaying "MPPD" in large blue letters across the side, trunk and hood on a white background.
The new vehicles feature a smaller version of "MPPD" with a star next to it. Vehicles will also feature solid black coloring on hoods and trunks.
According to Police Chief John Dahlberg, approximately nine squad cars with the new design hit the streets last summer, and approximately eight more will begin patrolling the community by the end of September.
"The paint job previously deployed was a little pricier than the traditional black and white," said Dahlberg. "The main reasons for the change are cost factor and appearance."
Dahlberg said the consensus among many officers within the department was the traditional black/white color scheme is more appealing and makes it a bit less noticeable to other motorists or citizens when being approached.
Besides the new design, Dahlberg said all front line marked patrol cars will have push bars to assist motorists and remove cars stalled in traffic lanes.
"This way, if a vehicle just stops running for whatever reason and is blocking traffic, the motorist would put their car in neutral and we would push their vehicles off the roadway using ours."
Dahlberg said the last time the police department changed the appearance of the squad cars was in 2000 when the department changed its fleet to Crown Victorias.
"This new look should last awhile," said Dahlberg. "The community identifies the police cars as belonging to Mt. Prospect. This is not a radical change."
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