City police cars get makeover
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on May 6, 2005 1:51 PM
Goldsboro's police cars are getting their first makeover in 17 years.
The old blue and gold police shield, used on the car doors since 1987, is being replaced with the word police in blue, black and white and the word Goldsboro underneath. A smaller police shield is being placed on the front quarter-panel and the 911 emergency call number is on the back fender.
"We felt we needed to update our cars years ago," said Maj. M.D. Hopper, who supervises the department's patrol division. "We're getting away from the single-door badge with more graphics."
Hopper said the new markings will make the cars more visible to the public and help project a better image. The new logos, he said, "dresses them up to make them look better."
Older, higher-mileage cars that will be phased out of the department's fleet in the next year will not undergo the makeover, Hopper said.
"For a while, the public will see both markings," the major said. "Most will be changed in the next month."
Police officers and city officials seem to like the new color scheme, he said.
About 15 cars already sport the new markings. Hopper said the badge decal can be removed and the paint added to three cars a day. The department has 58 cars.
From 1974 until 1987, Goldsboro police drove blue and white cars marked with a blue and gold police shield. In the late '60s and early '70s, the department used white cars with a black and gold shield. In the early '60s, officers drove black and white cars. In the '50s they drove black marked cars.
The current trend in law enforcement has been to change from single-badge decals to marked cars, Hopper said..
Law enforcement departments went to single-color cars in the 1980s to save money, he said.
Hopper said the changes will not cost taxpayers. The money for the new markings is coming from drug forfeiture funds.