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Chief Mike Navarre said only four firms wanted in on the plan to buy four years' worth of advertising for $15,000.
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Pitch to get help buying Toledo police cruisers fell flat at start

The Blade/Jetta Fraser

Pitch to get help buying Toledo police cruisers fell flat at start

With a projected deficit in the city's budget and a need to replace an aging fleet of vehicles, the Toledo Police Department started an advertising program with the hope of making some extra cash to buy new cars.

By donating $15,000, businesses for four years would have their ad placed on each side of a police patrol car, allowing the department to buy new squad cars to replace some of the old, worn-out ones.

Toledo Police Chief Mike Navarre thought it was the ideal situation.

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But very few businesses liked the idea and even fewer agreed to participate.

"We thought we had something good that was going to work," Chief Navarre said, adding the idea was brought to him by Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. "I was wrong."

About 2,500 letters were mailed to local businesses during the summer announcing the program, and less than 1 percent of those contacted responded.

In the end, Chief Navarre said only four businesses committed to having their ads placed on a police car - the Mud Hens, Yark Automotive Group, ProMedica Health Systems, and Mercy Health Partners.

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The chief said those businesses didn't think the program was a viable form of advertising; they simply wanted to support the police department.

"The bottom line is, businesses did not think that was a good return on their dollar,"

Chief Navarre said.

With little interest from local businesses and a negative response from the community, the program didn't move beyond the initial mailings and a few meetings.

Some rejected the idea after questioning the ethics of the program.

Others thought it was wrong to put advertisements on vehicles that are used for public safety.

"There would always be that assumption that you don't want to hurt the city's economic hand by giving a person a ticket and have them revoke advertising in coming years," said Dan Wagner, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association.

He added that the union supported the program but had cautioned against possible ramifications.

Joe Napoli, general manager of the Mud Hens, said he was in favor of supporting the police department through advertising. A Mud Hens' logo branded on the side of a police car could have potentially prompted thousands of people to buy tickets to a game, he said.

But Mr. Napoli said his decision to participate was more about supporting the police department than marketing the baseball team.

And when the program failed, the Mud Hens instead purchased three bicycles for the department, which are used by Toledo police to patrol near Fifth Third Field during home baseball games.

ProMedica made a monetary donation in support of the police department, said Tedra White, spokesman for Toledo Hospital. She declined to disclose the amount of the donation.

Chief Navarre said money from the advertising program would have been used to offset the cost of the car lease or be used to buy more police cars. Instead, the department was forced to dip into its general operating budget to purchase the cars.

Forty Dodge Chargers are being leased from Charlie's Dodge in Maumee for about $350,000 each year for three years. After the third year, the city will buy the cars for $1 each.

The total cost to lease the cars and install equipment such as dashboard video cameras, light bars, and computers is more than $1.4 million, with $440,000 being paid for by federal grant money.

Chief Navarre said he expects several of the new police cars to hit the streets in January.

Between 20 and 30 police cars are normally replaced each year, but the department wasn't able to replace any last year because of the city's budget constraints.

The chief said cars need to be replaced about every three years because of their high use. Some are driven 24 hours a day, while others have logged more than 150,000 miles.

"They take a lot of abuse because that's the nature of the work police officers perform," Chief Navarre said. "I'd like to replace 40 every year, but that hasn't happened."

Contact Laren Weber at:

lweber@theblade.com

or 419-724-6050.

First Published December 23, 2007, 12:09 p.m.

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Chief Mike Navarre said only four firms wanted in on the plan to buy four years' worth of advertising for $15,000.  (The Blade/Jetta Fraser)  Buy Image
James Fleischmann inspects a 2001 Toledo police squad car that has 235,000 miles on it.
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