Selectmen order tinted windows removed from cruisers
<SCRIPT language=javascript type=text/javascript> var isoPubDate = 'August 18, 2008'</SCRIPT>By Mary Ann Bragg
mbragg@capecodonline.com
August 18, 2008 6:00 AM
TRURO MA — Truro's elected officials have told the police chief to get rid of the "Darth Vader" window tint in the front seats of all 12 police cruisers — and any future cruisers — so that citizens can see who's driving.
The unanimous vote of the selectmen comes in a year where they have begun to assert more administrative control over Police Chief John Thomas, who has held the job for 15 years. That control includes stricter reporting requirements, an upcoming department budget review and conversations with town counsel about what the selectmen can and cannot tell the police chief to do.
Selectmen Fred Gaechter cited citizen complaints about the cruisers' Darth Vader windows, referring to a sinister, black-masked character in the Star Wars movie series. The tint is so dark that it prevents anyone outside the car from seeing whether it's occupied, he said.
The town mechanic will scrape the tinted film off the windows at an estimated cost of $550, said Thomas. "The chief was not able to present a compelling reason to have them," Gaechter said. "At a time when citizens are having a little difficulty identifying with the police department, it would be nice to see them when they're patrolling."
Thomas declined to explain why, since 2000, he added tint to the cruisers. "It's a moot point," Thomas said, referring to selectmen's vote to get rid of the tint.
Police chiefs across the Cape and the state police said dark tint is acceptable when used to reflect heat away from cars holding police dogs, for detective or surveillance work in unmarked cars, to protect the identity of witnesses and to reduce the need for air-conditioning.
"If a detective is on an investigation and has a victim in car, and pulling up to a potential suspect, I think it would be nice if the suspect couldn't see the victim," said Mashpee Police Chief Rodney Collins.
State law allows car owners to add tint to side and back windows of private cars up to a certain level of darkness. A six-inch band of tint may also be applied to the top of a windshield, according to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The exceptions include limousines and cars whose owners have a physician's note about needing more sun protection.
Police are exempt from that limit. According to state police policy, window tint is not applied to regular police cruisers, state police spokesman Trooper Eric Benson said. Window tint may be applied, with written permission from managers, to cars that carry police dogs or for unmarked cars that are used for non-patrol or investigative work, or on a case-by-case basis, Benson said.
An informal survey indicates that police departments in Bourne, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Provincetown, Truro, Sandwich and Yarmouth used window tint, though generally limited to unmarked cars.
The Truro police department owns at least one unmarked car, a police official said.
Those departments without tinted windows include: Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham and Wellfleet. Officials in Barnstable and Orleans did not respond to a request for information Friday.
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