Black Police Cars-Hamilton County Sheriff

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W9NES

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I was in West Carmel last night on 4-27-2010 and saw a Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy setting around 9900 North Michigan Road and he was in a all black Police Car that had the sheriff's star on the doors and a full lightbar on top.I have not seen any other Sheriff's Departmetns in Indiana do this.I am aware that Hamilton County(Ohio) has black police cars for there Sheriff's Deparment.This was done I believe to save Hamilton County taxpayers money.I am aware of the two tone Brown and Tan but have never seen a fully marked Black Police car in Indiana.
 

SCPD

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This was done two years ago to start changing them out to save money here in Hamilton County Indiana so right now they have both but more and more of the black are coming out its been in the works for the last two years now they also have sevral 4X4 Suv's they use as well. You will also see with in the last two years they have added sevral new animial control trucks as well.
 

GTO_04

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I have not seen the newer animal control trucks. Are they black as well? Last one I saw was white.

Yes they did say the switchover to black cars would take a few years for the sheriff's dept.

On a related note, Noblesville PD is switching from blue to black and white cars. The white part is actually a decal that covers the entire door. I guess they are easier to sell when they are single color black so they can go right back to that when they take the cruisers out of service.

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AK9R

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Black sheriff's cars are pretty much the norm in Ohio.

I have heard conflicting stories about why Indiana hangs on to brown and tan. One story is that it's a requirement handed down by the Indiana Sheriff's Association. If that's the case, then they really ought to recognize that the brown and tan scheme is an additional expense at time of purchase and lowers the resale value. The previous Hendricks County Sheriff put a stop to buying brown and tan cars, but the current Sheriff has gone back to that scheme.

I have noticed that some Indiana counties are using a light metallic brown no their Crown Vics, but that's a moot point as they are out of production (or soon will be). I wonder what colors Dodge offers on the police Chargers.
 

W9NES

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Bob, Thanks for your overview but Hendricks County does not have any Black Police Cars. This is only limited to Hamilton County at this time.If anyone in this fourm can share with us any other counties in Indiana who are using a all black Police car for County Police whould like to hear from others who have seen this being used.** The Brown and Tan have been used across Indiana for Years and also goes with the Brown and Tan Uniforms the Deputies wear.
 

GTO_04

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Car color mandated by state law?

At one time the colors used on sheriff's cars were mandated by state law. There was an effort to change that in order to save painting costs. I don't know if the law was ever changed though. But some sheriff's departments did go to a single color tan/light brown.


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zerobleu

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I have not seen the newer animal control trucks. Are they black as well? Last one I saw was white.
GTO_04

I think there are two of them one is white and one is black. Both are fully marked.

The entire fleet is switching to the black vehicle w/ silver markings with the exception of the unmarked vehicles of course.
 

GTO_04

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I think there are two of them one is white and one is black. Both are fully marked.

The entire fleet is switching to the black vehicle w/ silver markings with the exception of the unmarked vehicles of course.

Thanks. The last one I saw was white with an amber rotator on top.

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frankcastle

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At one time the colors used on sheriff's cars were mandated by state law. There was an effort to change that in order to save painting costs. I don't know if the law was ever changed though. But some sheriff's departments did go to a single color tan/light brown.


GTO_04

All Marshall County Merit Deputies have a solid color "Arizona Beige" crown vic. The switch was made a couple of years ago. The custom 2 tone cars were costing an additional $3000 each. They have also cut down on the striping. The cars have a single sheriff star on each door. No other decals or stripes are added.
 

DiGiTaLD

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I am aware that Hamilton County(Ohio) has black police cars for there Sheriff's Deparment.This was done I believe to save Hamilton County taxpayers money.
AFAIK, county cars in Ohio are generally black statewide with more or less standard markings, similar to the traditional two-tone brown and tan and generally standard markings used throughout Indiana for county cars.
 

DiGiTaLD

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Dodge offers Brown and tan because Clinton County Sheriff's Dept has them (unless they are custom)
Dodge will supposedly do custom paint at the factory for quantity orders. Not sure what the minimum is. I talked to one of the Johnson County sergeants a while back not long after they got their first marked Chargers, and he said they had to have them custom painted because they couldn't get the traditional sheriff two-tone done at the factory. Maybe with quantity orders (several counties going together, perhaps) it is happening now.

Marion County Sheriff's Department has a good number of Chargers in service (not IMPD, MCSD, yes, they still exist) both marked and unmarked. Their marked Chargers are a bronze color with a simple traditional sheriff's star door shield, and a Sheriff decal on the trunk lid.

As far as any paint scheme being mandated by state law, there's no such animal. It may have been in the not so recent past, but not in the past ten years or so. The sheriff two-tone is, to the best of my knowledge, an adopted standard of the Indiana Sheriff's Association. There have been variances county by county through the years, but more so recently because the two-tone costs so much. The only state law dealing with two-tone paint schemes is IC 5-22-22-9, regulating disposal of law enforcement vehicles. It requires that a vehicle model year 1994 or newer with a two-tone paint scheme similar to that used by a law enforcement agency in Indiana be painted a solid color if it is to be registered and/or operated by a private party on a public highway in Indiana. This could mean brown and tan, black and white, or pink and purple if there was some agency somewhere in the state that used it.
 
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