Wyoming’s roads stretch for miles across its sparsely populated landscape.
Drivers can often spot state troopers looming on the horizon in their shiny black Dodge Chargers, especially in bright white winters.
Not that anyone has reason to watch them.
“This stealthy gray”
Some Wyomingites expressed confusion and dismay this week over the Wyoming Highway Patrol’s new gray patrol cars, but the agency says most of its Dodge Charger fleet will remain sleek black.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol posted a photograph of a slate gray Dodge Charger patrol car on the agency’s Facebook page on Tuesday.
Dozens of commenters registered shock.
“Not a fan, it looks like they finished the primer and said, ‘no… I don’t want to finish, let’s go to the clear coat and finish,'” commenter Shawna Tyson Stephens said in a comment on the photo.
“Another great color to watch out for,” commented OJ Novota, along with a laughing emoji. “All kidding aside, the black version is…one of the best state trooper/highway patrol cars in the country.”
Another commenter, Lynne Lawson, quipped: “The same color as a snowbank. You won’t even see them!”
Ru Jessop suggested the agency paint all its cars orange or yellow: “That sneaky gray or black tells us it’s (sic) all about revenue.”
Although every time
Sgt. Jeremy Beck, spokesman for the Wyoming Highway Patrol, said the gray cars aren’t as recent as the public’s reaction to them.
The agency ordered about five gray cars in 2021 as a unique color selection alternative for soldiers who needed new vehicles. They arrived in 2022, Beck said, along with about 14 forest green cars and five granite cars.
The patrol also uses some alternate models for specialized duties, such as Dodge Durangoes and Chevy Tahoes, Beck said.
He said there’s always an initial shock when a police agency changes the style of its fleet.
“I remember when we went with a new graphics package, when we used to have black and white and we went to black vehicles, we got the same kind of response,” he said, adding that the change was about 20 years ago. “Like any other police vehicle, once you know the cars, you know it (design) as a patrol car.”
Beck emphasized that most of the fleet is still black.
Clair McFarland can be reached at: Clair@CowboyStateDaily.com
