Black and white (slang)

Black and white is an American slang term for a police car that is painted in large panels of black and white or generally any "marked" police car. Historically, this scheme was much favored by North American police forces because it allowed the unambiguous recognition of patrol units from a significant distance. However, as the color scheme is not standardized, each police agency in the U.S. and Canada can choose their own color scheme. The most common variant of the black and white color scheme is white roof and four white doors, the second most common is white roof and only the two front doors. In France and Sweden, the black and white police cars had black roofs to make them visible in high snow.

Like most police agencies throughout southern California, the Los Angeles Police Department vehicles are ordered painted in black clearcoat with the roof, doors, and pillars painted white from the factory. Three vehicles are approved for use within the Los Angeles Police Department, they are the Ford Taurus, Ford Explorer and the Dodge Charger. Only the sedans are permitted to engage in a vehicle pursuit, pursuant to department policy. Options available from Ford ordered by the department include the handle-bar spotlights, 16-inch heavy duty steel wheels with chrome center caps, and ballistic panels within the two front doors. Installed equipment includes the lightbar, front-grill siren and control box from Federal Signal Corporation, the digital two-way radio by Motorola, a notebook PC to function as the Mobile data terminal, and a partition to separate the prisoner rear seating from the driver and front passenger seats. The so-called "A-cars" and "X-cars" (eXtra patrol) also have a shotgun mounted between the front seats in front of the partition.

Most police vehicles bear at least two rear bumper stickers: one reading "There's NO Excuse - For Domestic Violence" and another for "DARE" Drug Abuse Resistance Education. On the rear side panel is a black and white sticker that reads "EMERGENCY DIAL 9-1-1 Fire Police Medical." The front doors bears the seal of the City of Los Angeles, the department slogan "to protect and to serve" as well as the citywide five-digit "shop number" and city department name (POLICE). The last three numbers of the shop number (used to identify all vehicles operated by the city) are reprinted on the roof to help air units visually identify cars. On the trunk is a number that identifies which division the unit belongs to (e.g. a 25 would be "South Traffic Division" or a 3 would be "Southwest Area").

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Wikipedia