In conjunction with National Road Safety Week (May 15-21), Halifax Regional Police unveiled two new vehicles with special markings at Horseshoe Island.

Media got to see the inside of the police car, the new decals and talk to officers about the utilization of these vehicles.

Officers also addressed motor vehicle infractions that impact quality of life issues on our roadways such as: texting while driving, cell phone usage, unsafe lane changes and aggressive driving.

The new changes to these two traffic vehicles is in presentation.  With a hybrid combination of both clear and visible police markings on the sides of the vehicles and the new “invisible” decals added to the rear of the vehicle, the removal of police decals from the front, and new emergency lights placement, these vehicles have a less noticeable profile.

These changes will likely lead to more positive interactions with traffic violators who may not notice a police vehicle in their presence while breaching traffic law, allowing the officer to make a stop and correct the driving violation, where as a vehicle may notice a clearly marked vehicle, stop their behavior briefly, then resume their habits after leaving view of the police vehicle.

The new decals are rather “ghostly” and appear in the right light.  During the day, the police markings are fairly tough to see.  At night, they reflect as headlights draw closer.  The more visible decals remain to allow the vehicles to be clearly seen in cases where these vehicles may be responding to active scenes and need to be better viewed.

These “ghost cars” are in service, and no other modifications over other police vehicles were made to these vehicles.  Other jurisdictions in North America have used this method in various combinations of visible / invisible markings and this new program to Halifax will be monitored for its effectiveness.

HRP officers from the Traffic Services Unit spoke for the role these vehicles will play and remind motorists of road safety tips to make roads safer for everyone.

BACKGROUNDER
• A police ghost car is a marked police cruiser but the graphics and decals are barely visible during
the day. At night, the decals reflect.
• The cars have internal lights instead of an external light bar.
• HRP ghost cars are 2017 Ford Taurus Interceptors.
• Ghost cars are not meant to be hidden or unidentifiable as a police vehicle. Rather, they allow
officers in a traffic enforcement sense to view potential motor vehicle infractions that are known to cause collisions and quality of life issues.
• The introduction of ghost cars will hopefully generate community interest, create conversations and help to build relationships.
• The goal of these cars is to provide better interaction with the public, identify offenses that are typically difficult to detect and lessen the offences through education around the issues of distracted, aggressive and dangerous driving. This, in turn, will make our roads safer for
everyone.

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Source: Media Release (HRP) / Sean Dewitt