A police car is an iconic piece of Americana. Most of us can pick a police vehicle out of traffic even without any identification on the car. Seeing a police car can make us feel safer in our neighborhoods, encourage interaction with police officers and discourage crime and criminals. This makes it vital that police vehicle graphics contribute to the effectiveness of a police department by creating a strong brand identity.
Branding 101
Branding and brand identity is about creating a persona for your organization. It's a concept that goes beyond logos or slogans and incorporates the whole of an operation from the letterhead to email signatures to vehicle graphics.
The best brands work effectively because they consistently present the same message to stakeholders through everything they do. This provides the client, customer or community member interacting with the brand a greater overall sense of the organization and helps build trust.
Brands with inconsistent messages project an identity that is disorganized, difficult to navigate, and possibly incompetent. Stakeholders see different messages and don't know which one to trust or pay attention to.
Police Department Branding
If branding helps build a sense of trust between an organization and the people it serves, than no organization needs branding more than a police department, an organization that relies on trust to get the job done. 
A community wants to have trust in its police department. These are the men and women who respond to emergencies, stop crime and look out for the safety of the community. Consistent brand messages can help promote that sense of trust, just like consistent brand messages help customers trust a company or label.
Vehicle Branding
So back to the police car. The police car is the most visible symbol of a police department in a community. Most citizens will likely never venture into their local police department, but they will interact with police officers as they patrol the community, attend civic events or respond to incidents in their cars.
This presents an opportunity for police departments to promote their branding identity through vehicle graphics. Vehicle graphics can promote a department's brand identity through:
- Slogans or mottos;
- Badging;
- The name of the department, precinct or city;
- Vehicle numbers;
- And a reminder to call 9-1-1 in the case of emergencies.
The messages included on vehicle graphics should be the same messages included in other police department materials including building signage, brochures and correspondence, and the department website.
Police cars can do much more than chase down bad guys or clear traffic. Vehicle graphics on police cars can increase brand identity, make the relationships between a community and a department stronger and build trust between police and their stakeholders.
If you are interested in branding your company on a building, vehicles just contact us for a free evaluation.
