Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood is standing behind her decision to switch some cruiser colours from white to blue.
"As the Chief of Police this is an operational decision and I made the decision and we changed the colours of our vehicles," Greenwood said during an interview Wednesday at the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police meeting in Barrie.
The Chief says the colour change is part of a larger strategic direction in the Barrie Police business plan that focussed on branding, the police logo, community engagement and public trust and confidence.
"The vehicles were one small part of a much bigger objective for our service. It was an operational decision. We had input from the community, We had input from our members."
The colour change will occur over time during the life-cycle of the vehicles so Greenwood says there is no financial impact to the city.
The issue of the cruiser colours and citizen complaints the cars weren't visible enough were raised at city council in October and council voted to ask police to explain the switch.
A memo outlining the police response was part of the Dec. 5 council meeting agenda.
"I have not received a complaint about our cruisers," said Greenwood. "We launched them back in May and we are now talking about it six months later based on a council report that came forward to my attention."
"I don't see it as an issue," she said. "I think our cruisers are visible in the community and our lighting system is state of the art and able to be viewed from kilometres away."
The Chief also said red light cameras would not be coming to Barrie intersections any time soon.
After examining the data that was provided to police by their partners, including the City of Barrie and Accident Support Services, the need for cameras was nixed.
A report presented to city council on Monday indicated less than 4% of collisions in Barrie were a result of running a red light.
"We along with the city, identified that within our top ten locations in our city, it really wasn't going to be beneficial to our city so we continue to work with provincial initiatives and local specific initiatives that focus on traffic safety and one of those is police presence."
The Chief said the decision on red light cameras would be made by city council but her force would welcome any tools that enhance public safety.
A report on red light cameras was requested by city council in October after the province announced legislation that would give municipalities the power to use red light cameras in school and community safety zones.
