Jan 4: What's in a colour?

What's in a colour? Apparently a lot or not much depending on who is doing the talking or thinking. Take the recent example of what has happened in my hometown, Toronto. Late last Summer it was announced that the Toronto police cars would now be a shade of grey with white graphics.......

Distinctive? I guess, but maybe not as much of a standout as the current white cars are with their blaring red and blue decals.......

Now, this is where it gets tricky. Quite a few people mentioned that the new colour scheme made the police cars seem less approachable and more militaristic. Approachable? Whoever finds any police car approachable? Beats me! Militaristic? I can see that, but should this be a problem?

On the other hand, someone also piped up and said that the new colours made the cars blend into the scenery more and didn't have the "make it stand out" look of the white cruisers. Now, we are definitely on to something, as you can see by this side by side comparison........

Keep in mind that these cars aren't meant to be stealthy, as the force has plenty of unmarked patrol cars ready to take you down. Like these Toronto police Crown Vics waiting to be put into service, just before their production ended a few years back........

After a few weeks of discussion, someone asked the police chief point blank, why the change? Now we all can come up with stupid answers to smart questions, but most of us won't have those answers published on the front page of the city's four daily newspapers for millions to see and read. The chief's answer? He simply wanted a change and didn't give it any thought. That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Way back when, our cruisers were New York taxi yellow.......

.......and this colour stayed with us until the late '80's. No way that this shade blended into the background, but it was finally changed, when some bright soul with influence said people (tourists?) were mistaking them for taxis. Really? Toronto has never had a yellow taxi to my knowledge. Anyway, next came the ubiquitous white cars. I say ubiquitous, since white cars became the norm across North America. Ours were white with red and blue stripes........

.......which after a few years followed the trend of adding dramatic and colourful markings to police vehicles, so our cars ended up as they are now.......

So back to the first order of one hundred grey cruisers, which hit the streets over the past few months. Cruisers doing their duty for their city........

......until the Police Services Board, said, not so fast, chief, let's rethink this change. Matter of fact, let's stay with the the white, red and blues that we already have. So after much publicity and a big splashy roll out, the new grey cruisers will become a novelty item, until they can be repainted or simply wear out. You know, for a very smart police chief, this was a very public and very dumb chain of events.

I wonder what Blinky the talking Toronto police car would say about this episode?

By the way, Blinky is a pig. Funny when you think about it, as "pig" used to be a very derogatory term for police everywhere. Wonder how he would look in stealth grey?

What's in a colour? Well, that depends and in Toronto, it depends on where that colour is being applied.

Until next time.......