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Major Monaco (who thinks it is a bad idea)
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Date Posted: 12:37:12 11/12/02 Tue
From Chicagoland's Daily Herald newspaper...
Ad-plastered police cars may be coming
By Rhonda Sciarra Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted on November 10, 2002
Squad cars splashed with ads selling french fries and soft drinks? Some area police departments say, "Just do it."
Government Acquisitions, a North Carolina company, buys the cars with money from advertisers and then sells the cruisers to police around the nation for $1.
The brand new vehicles come fully equipped on the inside and plastered with ads on the outside.
Suburban Chicago streets could see them in a matter of months.
Rolling Meadows, Round Lake Area Park District, Crystal Lake, Spring Grove and Niles police are among the 250 departments in the United States that have inquired about the deal this fall.
More than 20 departments nationwide have signed with the company. Cars should be on the road in three to six months.
Round Lake Area Park District Police Chief Michael Greisz will present to his park district board a proposed contract for five new vehicles Nov.æ14.
The agency polices 45 properties across Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Heights and Hainesville in Lake County.
Four full-time and five part-time police officers work for the park district in five 1995 and 1996 model police vehicles. The lowest-mileage car has 85,000 miles on it. Police had to buy two transmissions for cars this year, Greisz said.
"We have an aging fleet, and we don't have the money to replace it," he said. "We would be receiving $135,000 to $150,000 worth of equipment for $1 per car, delivered and ready to roll."
Police departments keep the cars for three years and then sell them back to the company for $1. Repairs fall under the vehicles' warranties.
The cars can be as decorated or as simple with the ads as a department wishes, said Ken Allison, a managing partner with Government Acquisitions.
His company already has the approval from Mooresville, N.C., officials to produce 25 patrol cars as NASCAR replicas. Each patrol car will resemble vehicles driven by the more than 40 racing teams.
Departments could also have themed vehicles such as a K-9 unit car covered in dog product ads.
New cars help increase police response time, boost officer morale, promote tourism and local businesses and save tax dollars, Allison said.
The more ads, the better the chance the company can recruit sponsors. No ads related to alcohol, tobacco or gambling will go on the cars. Doughnuts are OK.
"With every vehicle, we work with the police on the layout and how it is going to be put together," he said.
Rolling Meadows police expressed interest in the idea a month ago, but have backed away from the ad-covered cars, said police Chief Steven Williams.
The concept is inappropriate for police, he said.
"To emblazon police cars and fire trucks just doesn't fit the perception that communities should have of their police or fire departments," Williams said. "I just don't think it's right for us as a department and as a profession."
A group of 20 criminal justice professors and experts agree and penned a letter to 100 national advertisers last month asking them not to buy into the "rolling billboards."
"It is awfully tempting for budget-strapped police departments to go for this - what is essentially free automobiles," said Albert W. Alschuler, a University of Chicago Law School professor who signed the appeal.
"But it seriously challenges the image of police when they are turned into hucksters for products."
Williams likens the concept of ads on police cars to naming sports stadiums after businesses that buy naming rights.
The tradition used to be to name arenas after prominent people, he said.
"It was a sad day when they changed the name of certain stadiums," Williams said. "I guess it may just be a sign of times."
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