South Australia Police (SAPOL) has revealed six new police cars which are intended to not be very revealing.
Called “shadow patrol cars”, these vehicles wear reflective, colour-matched markings that are designed to be less visible than regular patrol cars during the day, albeit still reflective at night when light hits them. They also lack the roof-mounted light bars seen on traditional marked police cars.
They’re therefore more stealthy than marked police cars, but more visible than unmarked units.
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There are two examples each of the Subaru Outback, Toyota Kluger, and Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series wearing this new ‘shadow’ livery, and all of them will be equipped with speed detection equipment, alcohol and drug testing equipment, and safety equipment required by officers for investigating collisions.
They’ll be deployed in metropolitan and regional areas for both routine road policing and targeted enforcement operations, with officers on board looking out for drivers speeding, not paying attention, or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or otherwise driving dangerously.
“These will serve as a deterrent effect for those people who probably think they can get away with their behaviour because they know when they can pick a patrol car,” said SAPOL commissioner Grant Stevens at a press conference.
“These vehicles at night will be more apparent when you shine a light on them, but we want to keep people guessing in terms of where we are and what we’re doing so that those people who ignore the rules are going to find it much harder to avoid police.
“If you’re doing the right thing, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
As of July 6, 2026, a total of 61 lives have been lost on South Australian roads so far this year, with drink-driving being a contributing factor in 10 per cent of these lives lost, drug-driving contributing 21 per cent, and “dangerous road users or behaviours” contributing 36 per cent.