I was told by a retired deputy working at the museum that the sheriff who was in office from 1970-1990 was an Irishman and he changed the patrol cars to the green and white design. They have since switched back to black and white and I was told all law enforcement vehicles in the state of California are required by law to be black and white with the only exception being certain ones can be all white.
A little update on this.
I found the California regulation on
law enforcement vehicle colors that states as follows:
”Cal. Admin. Code title. 13, § 1141
Barclays Official California Code of Regulations Currentness
Title 13. Motor Vehicles
Division 2. Departement of the California Highway Patrol
Chapter 5. Special Vehicles
Article 5. Color of Traffic
Law Enforcement Vehicles (Refs & Annos)
§ 1141. Color Requirements.
Each motor vehicle shall have a distinctive exterior finish, exclusive of wheels and trim, as follows:
(a) Vehicles Except Motorcycles.
Vehicles, except motorcycles, shall be painted:
(1) Entirely white; or
(2) White, except that an area not less than and including the front door panels shall be black; or
(3) Black, except that an area not less than and including the front door panels shall be white; or
(4) Any other color, with any color front door panels.
(5) The indicia or name of governmental entity operating the vehicle shall be displayed in sharp contrast to the background on the front door panels and shall be of such size, shape, and color as to be readily legible during daylight hours from a distance of 50 feet.
(b) Stripes. Painted or decal stripes may be used provided that the stripe does not interfere with the contrast or legibility of the indicia or name of the governmental entity operating the vehicle.”
If I do not misinterpretat, it should mean all white cars, white cars with at least the front doors or all doors black, black cars with at least the front doors or all doors white and any other color with any color front doors.
The last I interpretate as you could have green cars with orange front doors if any agency should want that.
In any case SDSO should quite easy go back to the green and white cars.
I think that the green and white was much more visible than the black and white.
Michael