A public backlash followed. Critics said the “stealth grey” was too militaristic and sent the wrong message to the public. Design and safety experts questioned why police would choose a color lacking visibility.

About a year ago, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, decided without much “deep thought” that the city’s white, red and blue patrol cars should be replaced with all-grey cruisers.

On Monday, Saunders rolled up to a press conference behind the wheel of a Ford Interceptor with a grey base and white doors, and its lights flashing. “Toronto Police Service unveils new police vehicle, listening to the community, listening to our members,” announced the TPS in a news release.

He is set to report to the board Thursday on a design and colour that’s already been decided.

After being scolded by city council and the civilian oversight board, which, unlike previous boards, wasn’t consulted on the design change — Saunders agreed to put the conversion on hold, clarify the reason for change, consult with the public and report back to the board.

An order has already been placed for 70 new grey and whites, in addition to the 74 all-grey cars ordered in 2016.

The public wanted visibility, the police wanted “stealth,” and that’s what they got — without any input from the board, she said.

But Councillor Shelley Carroll, a member of the Toronto Police Services Board who first flagged public concern about all-grey cars, says Saunders and the service jumped the gun, and in so doing failed the public.

“This is a simple matter. Release the design and bring it to the board for approval,” Carroll said this week at city hall. “We didn’t get a picture of the new design. We got a new car with the design already on it.”

Nor did the board receive the answers to the questions it asked.

The board also fell down on its oversight duties, she added.

Board chair Andy Pringle, Mayor John Tory and other members should have “done better” and given clearer direction to the chief that the board first needed to sign off on a new design and color, she said.

“If we’re not crystal clear, we’re leaving things open to interpretation, and we have a service that really just wants to do its own thing,” she said. “That’s disappointing. Nowhere else in municipal operations is there more trust in jeopardy than in the police service.”

While the design of the police car is “not a life and death controversy… this is the place where we really could have demonstrated the fact that we’ve gone the extra mile. So I’m frustrated,” Carroll said.

TPS spokeswoman Meaghan Gray responded Wednesday that the chief’s report to the board “clearly responds to the direction that was given to us, as noted in previous board minutes. We consulted with the community and chose a design that achieves a balance between the wishes of the public and our members.”

Pringle did not respond to a request for comment.

Mayor Tory is pleased Saunders sought feedback from the public and police service and worked with students “for this new visible and professional design,” his spokeswoman, Keerthana Kamalavasan, wrote in email.

In the report, the police say the new design is based on the results of a 14-question survey which received 17,121 responses from the external community and 1,438 internal police staff — more than any other survey conducted by the service.

Although the public agreed on 80 per cent of the design elements, the survey also showed “notable differences” on two key questions: the choice of base color and image, the report notes.

Forty two per cent of the general public thought visibility was of paramount importance, while 15 per cent picked “authority.” Those respondents also favored a base color of white by a wide margin, 47 per cent compared with 16 for grey.

In contrast, 37 per cent of police service employees thought authority more important than visibility, picked by 22 per cent, and 34 per cent preferred grey to white as the base color, chosen by 16 per cent.

The online survey, which only offered five base color options: white, silver, dark blue, grey and black, essentially allowed the force to engineer the outcome, Carroll said.

She’s also critical of the service for not providing any “real analysis” of the survey results, nor did the board get a chance to discuss why the service didn’t consider painting its fleet the bright colors seen on European emergency vehicles.

“This was an opportunity to look at these things… especially in this age of terrorism. Don’t you want police cars that everyone can recognize and run to in that type of incident?”

While Carroll said the moment for such a debate has likely passed — some social media commentators are still questioning the process and why grey remains the dominant color.

“Seems a little low on the visibility scale. Why not yellow like Europe?” said one tweet.

This week, Saunders said visibility was considered in the redesign and pointed to the involvement of the Ryerson School of Media, which he said took that into consideration.

John Girardo, the Ryerson instructor who lead the redesign project, told the Star students prepared about two dozen photo-shopped mockups based on the results of the survey.

No research was undertaken into emergency vehicle safety and which colors would improve visibility and reduce accidents.

“We were only asked to execute based on the research that was done,” Girardo said. “If somebody wants a lime green vehicle, we would show them what that would look like.”

Girardo said he likes the new design, which he thinks has a “strong” look and “retro” feel, while the stark contrast of grey and white makes the cars more visible on city streets.

“Anytime you start dealing with a design or a look, it’s a subjective call, there are going to be people who have different opinions.”