It’s Time For America’s Police Cars To Look Friendly

“Looks like the police are here,” my friend in Germany nonchalantly chirped at a weekend car show in Nuremberg a few years ago. I turned around to see a small neon green and blue hatchback slowly entering the car show. My heart rate did not increase a single beat per minute; I barely gave the police a second look; and pretty much nobody bothered to pay attention except the folks to whom the officer was talking (their cars may have been blocking traffic or something). This was in stark contrast to pretty much any experience in the U.S. where a police car was involved, and some of that has to do with the fact that carmakers specifically make their police cars look “sinister.” This should change.

The difference between police in the U.S. and Germany (and other countries) is enormous, and spans far beyond simply the types of cars they drive. There’s a lot of history there that I’m not going to get into, nor am I going to get into any sort of police-bashing. I have tremendous respect for many members of America’s law enforcement, and I thank them for putting their lives on the line to protect everyday citizens. At the same time, there are problems with how our police has historically handled… many things.

I consider myself privileged in plenty of ways, and I’m absolutely a straightedge, law-abiding guy, but even I have had to deal with cops more than I’d like to. Back when I lived in Michigan and drove junky, sub $1000 cars, I got harassed by local police regularly. I once got pulled over for — and I kid you not — “looking suspicious” behind the wheel of my crusty, mud-covered 1992 Jeep Cherokee. I also got pulled over, had flashlights beamed into my face from multiple officers, and was handed an enormous ticket that would have cost me three points on my license had I not got gone to court — for passing a cop while going the speed limit in about an inch of snow. I also once got pulled over for passing an officer who was going 70.0 mph on a freeway where nobody goes under 80 (I-70, for you Michiganders); per my old Jeep’s speedometer I was going 71 mph, which was enough for the cop to enjoy a power trip but not enough for him to be able to ticket me. All of this is to say: I’m used to seeing Dodge Chargers and Ford Explorers in my rearview mirror, and the feeling I get when I see those reds and blues is not what it should be.

[Note: Welcome to Sunday Takes, where I (or occasionally Matt) spit out a hot take about cars for your enjoyment/discussion. This Sunday Takes may be going up on Monday; oops! -DT]

Automakers Design Police Cars To Look ‘Sinister,’ And That Needs To Change

I should not be afraid of the police, and while — again, I’ll reiterate that it’s not just car design that causes this fear — it’s not exactly helping that vehicles like the Dodge Charger Pursuit and Ford Police Interceptor shown below are referred to by their manufacturers as “sinister.” Yes, that’s right; cars meant to serve and protect Americans are being designed to look sinister — a term that translates to evil or threatening. From Dodge’s press release:

Behind its sinister face, the Dodge Charger Pursuit offers an all-new standard E-85 capable 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine with variable-valve timing (VVT) and available legendary 5.7-liter HEMI™ V-8 engine with fuel-saving Multi-displacement System (MDS).

Then there’s this from Ford’s press release for the 2010 Ford Stealth Police Interceptor Concept that the company showed at SEMA; look at all the times Ford uses the term “sinister”:

• Revamped grille, lighting, exhaust and interior provide a sleek, yet slightly sinister look designed to blend muscle with mystery
• Sleek, streamlined and slightly sinister, a specialized stealth concept version of Ford’s Police Interceptor will debut at the SEMA
• “The rim section is stacked to give it the illusion of greater width,” [Ford designer Melvin Betancourt]  said. “The center of the wheel is glossy black, and the rim is chrome. So we have that racy, hot rod look, but at the same time we’re building a sinister, stealthy, ‘Don’t mess with me’ feeling.”

Check out this quote from that same press release:

“The rim section is stacked to give it the illusion of greater width,” [Ford designer Melvin Betancourt] said. “The center of the wheel is glossy black, and the rim is chrome. So we have that racy, hot rod look, but at the same time we’re building a sinister, stealthy, ‘Don’t mess with me’ feeling.” 

Why are automakers making police cars look sinister? Why do we want them to convey the message “don’t mess with me”? Shouldn’t we want them to convey “I’m here for you when you need me. I’m protecting you and other motorists, and that may require me to, on occasion, chase after folks”?

Why It Matters What America’s Police Cars Look Like

To explain why the aesthetics of a police car matters, I’m going to reference a well-known military vehicle designer named Nir Kahn. Back when he worked for Plasan, an Israeli company that designs armored military vehicles, he wrote lots of insightful articles on LinkedIn about the particularities of military vehicle styling. One of my favorite articles, published in 2017, is called “The Aesthetics of Armoured Vehicles.” Here are a few paragraphs from that piece, which discusses how up-armoring military vehicles makes them look aggressive, sometimes sowing distrust among those who see the vehicles, and ultimately make certain peaceful missions more challenging:

But the addition of flat and square-edged panels [of armor] ruins the softer appearance of the Jeep-like vehicles and in many ways, although protecting the occupants, this can make their job harder, especially when working in civilian environments where human interaction can be a positive force, and an aggressive appearance can simply lead to increased violence.

The experiences of modern armies operating amongst civilian populations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of peacekeeping forces and militaries around the world, has led to increased awareness of how the appearance of their vehicles can affect their ability to conduct their missions. Doctrines like “Hearts & Minds” can favour a less aggressive aesthetic, while other users may prefer to create a “Shock & Awe” impression.

[…]

At Plasan we often adjust the styling of our vehicles to the desires of the end user. Sometimes a fine balance needs to be created between projecting a less aggressive image while maintaining a requisite degree of authority. Some customers absolutely want their vehicles to look aggressive; it all depends where they will be operating. The decision about the vehicle’s aesthetic and image is based on a combination of strategic, cultural and political considerations, but most of all it depends on the mission. The needs of a police or paramilitary team are different from the needs of an army, and the needs of an army conducting peace-keeping missions or homeland defence are different from the needs of an army engaged in combat beyond its borders. The Plasan SandCat family has built in design flexibility allowing versions of it to be configured for any of these tasks, whether that means integrating observation or weapons systems, or adopting styling to fit in with the image that the user wants to project.

Making a vehicle look aggressive may make sense for a military trying to intimidate an enemy, but a police force should be considered a peace-keeper, and thus an organization that projects positivity, trust, and community. Police vehicles should not look like hard-core military vehicles.

The Whole Aesthetic Of America’s Police Cars Should Change

I’m not the only one saying this, by the way. It seems, based on a cursory online search, quite a few people agree that American police cars should look a lot friendlier:

Elsewhere around the world, cars do look friendlier. I mean, just check out the police cars in Germany:

And here’s Hong Kong:

I could go on and on,  but you can see that visibility is key here. These officers are meant to protect and serve you, so knowing where they are is important. In the U.S., the mentality is sometimes different, as Government-Fleet — a website about fleet vehicles — makes clear when it talks about police vehicle design choices in Colorado (bold mine):

This color scheme was changed to the current color palette for several reasons, said Sgt. John Hahn, Colorado State Police public information officer. At the time, research indicated black, light blue, and gray would give police vehicles a distinctive look, while allowing them to blend with the surrounding environment.

Lighter blue and gray shades also reflect colors used by early Colorado State Police vehicles, Hahn said.

“Our decision was based on the desire to respect the history and background of our agency while still adhering to some smart, tactical strategies,” Hahn said. “We wanted a new, fresh look that adhered to the progressive nature of our agency while staying mindful of the past.”

State police vehicles that can blend into their surrounding environment offer advantages, Hahn said. The Colorado State Police deploys nearly 700 vehicles in its fleet; the majority includes Ford Crown Victoria with some Dodge Charger and Ford Expedition models.

“If we have vehicles partially hidden, it allows us to address motorists who might not be driving legally,” Hahn said.

The mentality of trying to ensure that vehicles are hard to see seems to imply a relationship between police and everyday citizens that is akin to predator and prey, though to be fair, this is not at all the case with many other police departments. The white part of a black-and-white police car is specifically there to help give the cars visibility, and beyond that, in California it is illegal to paint a CHP car all black; contrasting door panels are required to maintain visibility. There are plenty of states that have colorful police cars and not all-black ones; still, those big Explorers and those Chargers are still far from friendly.

The feeling of predator-and-pray is furthered by this USA Today article about LA’s now-defunct, fuel efficient fleet of small BMW i3 police cars:

LOS ANGELES — The sight of a puny, electric-powered BMW police car with flashing red lights isn’t exactly going to instill fear in the hearts of this city’s criminals.

But on Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department showed off the newest member of its fleet, a black-and-white BMW i3, a diminutive electric car meant for tooling around downtowns, not necessarily for a televised high-speed freeway chase.

BMW is loaning the not-so-intimidating police cruiser to the force for a year as part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s desire to get more electric or plug-in cars into the city’s fleet.

Why is the article seemingly critical of the new police vehicles because they won’t “instill fear” or “intimate” the public? This concept of “Police cars should be scary” is clearly thoroughly engrained into our national psyche, and I understand why; even the names of these police are not great. Most police cars are called the technical term “Police Pursuit Vehicles,” which I’m not a fan of. Just because pursuing criminals is a thing these cars can do, that shouldn’t be these cars’ entire identity. The vast majority of the time police cars aren’t actually in pursuit. What’s more, the Ford “Interceptor” name technically means “a fast aircraft that attacks enemy aircraft” or “Anyone or anything that catches or blocks an object or person in transit, such as a player blocking a pass.” Again, the car’s name is focused on the stopping of people and less so the helping of people.

At least Dodge Chargers are just called Pursuit vehicles and not “Enforcers,” as they’re in Canada. And at the very least, the Ford F-150 has the excellent name “Ford F-150 Police Responder.” There you go, a nice, friendly name that reminds you that police are here for you and not to get you.

Friendly Police Cars Just Make Sense

America’s police is such a loaded topic that I fear a couple thousand words on a Sunday Take could stoke some flames and lead to some heated comments, so I’ll just say that I want to keep the discussion as much about car design as possible.

And on that front, I believe we need more friendly American police cruisers. The BMW i3 above is a great example, and so is the Toyota Prius police vehicle in Hong Kong. There is a very macho, paramilitary-vibe to many American police departments, and I think having officers drive a friendly hatchback instead of a huge, black truck or SUV that frankly looks like a military war machine will knock everyone down a peg and keep them humble and reminded of what their relationship with citizens should be.

The following might make it seem like I’ve lived in LA too long, but I’ll just say it: vibes matter. And you cannot look at the NYPD officer above in that Smart Car and tell me those vibes aren’t way, way better than seeing an officer in a huge, blacked-out Ford Explorer. It conjures a whole different feeling, and what a police car’s design communicates to people matters. 

Back in 2016, Mercedes Benz of Portland wrote a great article on the New York City Smart Car rollout. It makes a lot of the points I’ve made in this article, including the fact that, while many will make fun of friendly cars because they’re used to cop cars looking scary, the reality is that a happy police car can help police in accomplishing their peace-keeping mission. From that story (bold mine):

In New York City’s tabloid newspapers and on blogs, they have been derided as “clown cars.” The previous police commissioner, William J. Bratton, described the subcompacts as “midget cars,” even as he announced their rollout last year.

But the city cannot seem to get enough of the tiny, bean-shaped vehicles, which look like curiously shrunken cousins of the iconic New York Police Department patrol car and which never fail to draw the attention, and sometimes the affection, of curious passers-by.

[…]

Among the department’s fleet of thousands of vehicles, including Ford Explorers racing to 911 calls and tow trucks clearing traffic lanes during the evening rush, the Smart car is quite possibly the only one that has its picture routinely shared on social media, described as “adorable” or, in the case of one parked in the West Village, “Cuuuuuute.”

“It’s just so approachable,” said Robert S. Martinez, the deputy commissioner for support services, who oversees the department’s vehicles. “People want to take pictures with it. People want to hug it, they want to kiss it. It’s just amazing.”

[…]

“It’s nice to have something to break the ice,” Michael Arad, the architect who designed the Sept. 11 memorial at the World Trade Center, said. One of the Smart cars parked in Lower Manhattan had recently caught his eye, and led him to joke to officers standing near it, wearing armor and carrying long guns, that they probably could not fit inside.

“I don’t think I would have joked with them if the car wasn’t there,” Mr. Arad said. “They thought the car was funny, too. It draws people out in a period of time when there’s so much tension around.”

Vehicles have often played a part in the politics of policing. In recent years, amid roiling racial tensions between minority communities and law enforcement, activists have pointed to the hulking armored vehicles mobilized in protests across the country as symptomatic of the militarization of the police.

To be sure, this whole article you’re reading isn’t meant to offer a solution that’s going to necessarily lead to radical change of police-civilian relations, but it could help a tiny bit, and above all, the story is pointing out the obvious: Because police are here to help us and not hunt us, their cars should be highly visible and they should definitely not be sinister.