NASHVILLE - Police in four small Georgia towns are considering getting into the ad business in exchange for free cruisers. <br>
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The police chiefs in Nashville, Lakeland, Alapaha in south Georgia and Ivey in middle Georgia are reviewing an offer from a private company, Government Acquisitions, to give them free cruisers for three years. <br>
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All the chiefs have to do is allow advertising on the police cars' hoods, trunks and sides. <br>
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``I figured I'd try it to see how it works,'' said Jerry Lipsey, chief of the 12-officer Nashville Police Department. ``We are a small department. It is hard to get our cars up to the number that we need.'' <br>
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The police department of Nashville, a town of about 4,700 north of Valdosta, has applied for seven cars. <br>
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About 100 small communities around the country are in talks with Government Acquisitions about the offer, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company said. <br>
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But most consumers won't pay any more attention to ads on police cars than they do ads on buses and billboards because advertising is everywhere, said Mark DiMassimo, president of DiMassimo Brand Marketing in New York. <br>
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Government Acquisitions does not have cars ready to deliver and is still in negotiations with advertisers, said company president Ken Allison. <br>
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Allison would not name the advertisers, but said the ads on police cruisers would not promote alcohol, tobacco, firearms or gaming. <br>
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Not everyone is happy with the idea. <br>
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Commercial Alert, an Oregon-based advocacy group, sent letters to 100 advertisers asking them not to support Government Acquisitions. The group says the company is exploiting law enforcement's economic vulnerability. <br>
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``Does anyone really think it is going to increase respect for law, to have police men and women in their cars hawking cola and fries?'' Commercial Alert said in the October letter.
