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INDEX JOURNAL - 04/16/2022

Article & photo by: KELLY DUNCAN kduncan@indexjournal.com

Perhaps you got stopped by a Greenwood Police Department patrolman recently and thought something looked different. Not about the officer, but the car.

That’s because the department is giving its patrol cars a new look, a design they say will not only stand out and look professional, but also save the money.

Maj. Mitchell McAllister said there were a number of reasons for the design change, cost being one of them.

“It became really cost-prohibitive to have green and white cars, because Ford says, ‘Hey, we’re only making cars of this color, and this color,’ and especially ones of these colors, and none of them were the colors that we were using,” he said.

So GPD chose the black car, which the department used for several years. And in the last two years, the department found that the vinyl wrap was not holding up to the standard it wanted.

“After about a year, each car really, truly needs to be rewrapped because it’s a white wrap – the door gets dinged, it’s going to be black underneath, so it stands out pretty significant,” Mitchell said.

So the department looked at options for how it could stay with what is currently used – a black car – underneath all the wrapping while providing a clean, presentable law enforcement look.

The designs that will be on the patrol cars is the same patch the Greenwood Police Department has always had with some new aspects.

“We kind of pulled in some aspects of, you know, an American flag and some choices that aren’t like any other cars around us because we wanted our car to stand out from everybody around us so that everybody recognized that it was Greenwood Police Department,” McAllister said. “We’re saving about probably 300 to 400 dollars per car.”

He said there is a trial phase to determine how long the wraps will last, but they should last longer than before.

In total, 34 cars will be wrapped. Right now, two cars have been rewrapped with the new design, including the patrol car involved in Wednesday’s wreck at the intersection of Laurel and Montague avenues.

“Our goal is to move through the fleet, starting with the worst cars that are still serviceable that need their graphics redone because this will allow us to save money and still project that good command presence and professional look the city of Greenwood wants,” McAllister said. “If you figure 34 cars, you will be looking at over $20,000 for replacement and that’s not being a good steward of the monies that the city has given us. There are other things that are more important.”

Article can also be found here.

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