• by Amy Corr  @MediaPostOTL, November 8, 2002

In today’s tough economic climate, towns across the country are looking for ways to provide their Police and Fire departments with new vehicles on a fixed budget, and thanks to a North Carolina-based company, they might soon be able to do so for just a $1. The catch? Their police cruisers might end up looking like they’re better suited to compete in the Daytona 500 rather than chase criminals.

Answering the President’s call for Homeland Security, Government Acquisitions developed a program to help local public safety agencies that have not received enough government funding for Homeland Security or don’t have a tax base sufficient to provide the vehicles needed.

The company combines corporate funding and donated vehicles to adorn local law enforcement vehicles with sponsorships similar to those used on NASCAR racecars, and 20 towns around the country have already signed definitive agreements to participate.

Ken Allison, President of Government Acquisitions, calls the cars “moving billboards”, and says the cars can be customized just like any other form of OOH advertising. For example, a dog food brand can purchase exclusive sponsorships of K-9 vehicles, a kid’s cereal or toy company can sponsor police vehicles and so on.

The company says it “will not promote alcohol, tobacco, firearms, gaming or any other inappropriate sponsor themes.”

Ads can be as small as a sticker, or as big as the hood of the police car. The minimum agreement is three years, and pricing ranges from $1,000 and as high as $50,000. Allison says this is price is a steal - “divided over three years, a corporation can pay as little as $300.00 to have their brand exposed to a countless number of people.”

The first police cars will be delivered to municipalities in about 3 months and presently 300 cities are in talks with Government Acquisitions.

Drew Livingston, President of FreeCar Media, a company that wraps vehicles in ads for brand exposure, feels this form of branding will work in an unsteady economy, but ponders its need when the economy recovers. “This is a great way for local municipalities to generate revenue in a down economy, but this is a big undertaking for police departments - and it is hard to match advertisers to police vehicles."