The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is deploying new Specially Marked Patrol Vehicles (SMPVs) throughout the state, designed to keep a low profile. Each of the car bodies is its own uniform color, including silver, grey, maroon, blue, and black.
The purpose of the new SMPVs, all Dodge Durangos, is to blend into traffic and observe reckless driving without being “immediate(ly)” detected by motorists, per a CHP press release issued May 8.
The problem seen by some legal experts? Title 13, section 1141 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) forbids the CHP from administering vehicles that are fully black…