NYPD patrol cars will be getting updated with a new slogan, making it the second design change to be implemented on the cruisers in a year.
Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell revealed her own updated patrol cars five months before she resigned in June 2023. Former director of the NYPD Fleet Services Division, Bob Martinez, said the vehicles hadn’t been changed since the 1990s.
The cruisers’ decals, which are currently imprinted with the old motto, “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect,” will be replaced with decals reading the new slogan: “Fighting crime, protecting the public.”
This new motto is written in lowercase, cursive font on the back windows. The new cars will also have five green and white strips on their sides representing the five boroughs of New York City, and white stars over blue as a nod to the NYPD flag, with the stars representing the towns and villages that officially became the boroughs of NYC in 1898.
Sewell’s redesigned patrol cars from last year had green race stripes running along the sides of every vehicle with the slogan “Protecting NYC since 1845.” The new cruisers rolled out earlier this year.
So far, 125 new patrol cars are carrying the newest logo. A department spokesperson said all of the cruisers come blank and are given decals, which cost $1,390 each. However, Gothamist reported a police spokesperson could not provide the price of the previous decals, so it is unclear whether the new designs indicate an added cost to funding the department.
According to NYPD records, they have a total of about 10,000 patrol cars, and all new vehicles will be imprinted with the updated decals. The reasoning behind the new designs is not clear, as a department spokesperson did not immediately answer a question about the reason for the motto change.
