by Staff Reporter
PALMA
THE bright red, yellow and purple Local Police cars, which match the Balearic flag and were introduced in December 2004, will gradually be replaced by the more traditional white and blue cars.
This was confirmed by the new director general of the interior Sebastià Amengual.
He said it was only the Balearics which had these brightly coloured cars and motorcycles, introduced by the previous Partido Popular (PP) government, adding that in all the other regions the police cars are the familiar blue and white, which are also found in other European Union countries and are more easily recognised by visitors. The three-coloured cars were leased for a period of 48 months at a cost of more than three million euros.
When the contract ends, in December 2008, the new vehicles supplied will be the traditional blue and white ones. If new cars or motorbikes are purchased before then, they will also be blue and white, Amengual said.
Amengual went on to explain that one of the chief tasks of his department would be to reinforce the work of the Local Police and also to define the bases for the future regional police force.