Black-and-Whites Are Back

If you’ve done a double-take lately when an Ann Arbor police vehicle whizzed by, you’re not alone. In recent months, the AAPD has been backdating the look of its fleet.

Out: dark blue paint with a bright blue stripe and the italicized words “Police” and “Ann Arbor” stacked on top of each other. In: a black body and white door panels, bearing a silver badge reading “Ann Arbor” “911” and “Police,” plus “EST 1871.” The retro look was conceived to mark the department’s 150th anniversary in 2021, explains Chris Page, AAPD’s strategic communications manager, but the rollout lagged behind the date by a couple of years. According to Wikipedia, it’s also in keeping with a United States Department of Homeland Security recommendation “that local law enforcement agencies adopt a black-and-white vehicle color scheme for ease of visual identification nationwide.”

Last September, the department posted photos of the proposed design on its Facebook and Instagram accounts. “We got a lot of good feedback,” Page says, and the change is being made as new vehicles arrive. “This will be our design going forward.”

Six of nineteen patrol vehicles currently bear the new design, and the rest will be phased in as they’re replaced. Typically, patrol vehicles are retired after six years of service or are re-evaluated after 100,000 miles, Page says.

So if you like the old squad cars’ appearance, snap a photo. They won’t be around much longer.

Related: Ann Arbor’s Police Patrol Vehicles: For officers and their passengers, bigger is better