Government vehicles are, by and large, instantly recognizable by their livery. Barring undercover surveillance vehicles, they’re emblazoned with decals and logos so everyone understands their purpose. Some are handsome and stylish, while others are… less so. The design used by the Nebraska State Patrol kind of falls into that latter category.
The law enforcement agency started with an entirely decent base—a Dodge Charger in black, with acceptable silver wheels. Where it went wrong is the graphic design. We see a single “STATE TROOPER” decal down the side of the vehicle, with the state denoted by the wing mirror. Then there’s the coat of arms on the fender and a further sticker on the rear flank.
The problem with the design is that… there really isn’t any design. The stickers are just slapped on, with little consideration as to their positioning, size, or spatial relationship. Overall, the design looks like it took about 20 minutes because they asked the decal guy to finish it on lunch break.
Time to crown a champion of the NSP Cruiser Tournament! The winner will be our entry into for the National Cruiser Calendar!
158-Tornado Forming
267-Blue AngelsVote in the poll below! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Y40LXjYsAk
— Nebraska State Patrol (@NEStatePatrol) July 4, 2024
That’s not to discount the photo, though. Nebraska State Patrol tells us that this pic was taken by one Trooper Frerichs in Madison County. It looks like something straight out of Twisters, everyone’s favorite Dodge ad disguised as a Hollywood blockbuster.
The photo was taken as Nebraska’s entry into the National Cruiser Calendar, a contest run by the American Association of State Troopers. You can vote on your favorite for the next calendar here. It was a strong effort to capture the car with what appears to be a nascent tornado in the background. It’s just a shame the cruiser itself has such an uninspiring livery.
This isn’t a new development. Nebraska has used simple designs dating back many years. The current font and general design idea seems to have been in use since the mid-2000s or so, as seen below in this photo from Flickr user John Mitchell.
As covered by Carscoops, competition to get in the calendar is stiff. The contest is run by the American Association of State Troopers each year. Currently, Florida leads the voting with the pic above.
However, I reckon that the Arizona Department of Public Safety has one of the sharpest liveries out. The contrast of the diagonal stripe, the well-placed text, it’s sharp. Honorable mentions to New Jersey and Minnesota for simple, eye-catching designs.
Honestly, though, a lot of state police have designs most similar to Nebraska’s effort. They generally just have a logo or coat of arms slapped on the door and the words “STATE TROOPER” stuck on the fender. There are some nice attempts at two tone, like the blue and white used in Kansas, but design is definitely not a strong point for state police forces.
Some will argue that spending big money on decals and graphic designers isn’t a good use of public funds. That’s fair. All I’ll say is that it’s good for government vehicles to look well-dressed and proper. Some of these look more like rental cars that someone’s thrown a fake sticker on. And that’s not ideal.
Particularly when it comes to law enforcement vehicles, citizens need to be able to recognize the real thing at a glance. A livery should look intentional and well designed to differentiate these vehicles from regular traffic. A couple of loosely-arranged decals doesn’t really cut it.
The rules are the same for government vehicles as they are for business. A company with expertly-finished vehicles in a recognizable livery will project an image of competence and trust, in a way that a white van with a cheap sticker just won’t.
It’s at times like these that we look to the shining example of the United States Post Office. An agency that keeps it simple, and always gets the look right.
Image credits: American Association of State Troopers, AT&T,
I think the NYS Troopers’ navy and gold scheme is great, along with any states that use navy as a base color. Florida with the black and tan is very striking as well. I think having state police marked cars in distinct liveries is important. For all reasons, the image is to put the state troopers on a higher professionalism level than your local cops. The unique colors mean business. A CT trooper in something that looks like a fleet special? Welcome to the ordinary. Cops get white, black, or silver vehicles. Troopers should get a color and a not busy, but very well designed decal scheme that screams professionalism.
Hear hear. They have radios, they don’t need muscle cars. Speaking of radios, that’s what a new cop should get. And a big easy style button. “Sir, please be calm. You don’t want me to push the button.”
Then when they prove that they can handle the job, maybe then move them into more responsibilities.
At least write it out in WordArt to print and stick on the cars, like the state of Maryland does for policy documentation.
Catch 22. Spend money on fancy graphics, and get called out for waste. Spend the bare minimum, and get called out for thrift.
Not sure I’d pull over if there was an NE SP car behind me. I’d think it was fake.
Yeah, genuinely a lot of these don’t look up to the standard for an official government vehicle.
Isp might have them beat, all white car with a big ol door decal.
About as ho hum and blends in minus the light bar as they could get
CHP is pretty funny – they only bothered to make a design that looked good on a white background. So what did they do for their fleet, which is made up of majority black cars? All of them got white front doors.
It looks like a design someone created in 5 minutes with their Cricut.
Not even theirs, it was done at the maker space in their local library, which will be closing down next week due to serious funding cuts [because of woke, you know]
This guy moved in next door to me and I’m worried crime will increase because his skin is woke-colored.
When did AZ DPS go from white/blue to silver/black?
Some of those are pretty bad photochops
I always thought the NYS Police had a good simple design that stood out, the Navy Blue and orange!
I thought they had used Letraset at first
It has “graphics design is my passion” vibes but in my opinion it’s better than the super low contrast “technically not unmarked” decals I keep seeing in certain PDs around here.
That’s what my local PD has gone with too, it really seems like cops are leaning into the evil aesthetic.
Tangentially related interesting tidbit, in my neck of the woods there used to be a certain gentleman that all the local police departments, etc. would use for their vehicle graphics. Said gentlemen would always get these departments to wrap their squad cars with very fancy colorful graphics and then charge big bucks for the work. Biggest waste of tax payer money ever. That is until one day this Gentlemen made some public comments that were less than tasteful. Overnight, all his clients dropped him.
Since then there has been a noticeable drop in the graphics on all the local police cruisers. Most are just their emblem on the driver and passenger side front doors now. I often wonder how much money is now being saved by this change.
Also, may I present the Pontiac Vibe Squad Car:
https://www.policecarwebsite.net/yet/rwcar4c/4c/cahokia103.jpg
Any chance you’re in the western ‘burbs of Chicago? I was an alderman on our local city council when that exact thing happened. We cut ties with him literally within an hour of seeing the posts.
Also, if we’re talking about the same guy, you were more than generous in describing his comments as “less than tasteful”. LOL.
For everyone else, I can confirm what I’m sure you were already thinking. This guy’s FB was full of the most racist, homophobic, antisemitic, misogynistic, and just generally appalling garbage you can imagine.
Yep, western suburbs of Chicago and same guy.
As a native Floridian I’ve always loved the Black and Tan look of the FHP.
That is unless their are in my rear view.
Good. It’s cheaper.
Why does a cop car have to look “cool?” That’s not its role.
I’m still seeing too many “dessert-for-breakfast” cars here. No cop needs more than a naturally aspirated 1.5L engine spinning the front wheels (only) through a CVT.
I agree wholeheartedly.
I mean sure, it’s cheaper, but they could at least go with a more interesting font/color scheme. It doesn’t need to look cool, but it also shouldn’t look like a project your high schooler started at 9pm the night before it was due.
But why? What purpose does that serve?
It doesn’t really serve a practical purpose, you’re right about that but…
This looks more like a DIY sticker job than an actual police vehicle. It’s supposed to represent the department. If my taxes are going to help fund the police in my state, I don’t want them to cheap out or do the bare minimum on whatever it is they’re doing and that includes identifying features on a police car.
Yes. I can see that. I’m just a prick sometimes. 🙂 Pardon!
How much cheaper could it possibly be than getting a halfway decent design? And I’d rather they spend money on decals anyway.
That is not what the Kansas Highway patrol cars actually look like. They are using Dodge Durango’s with the badge decal on the door and ‘STATE TROOPER’ on the front fender.
Even the very few Challenger’s I have seen have just been solid color with those simple graphics.
I’ve seen the 2-tone Challengers patrolling K-10 between Lawrence and Olathe. And, they have had one at the State Fair in recent years (probably the photo car).
I prefer this to anything more aggro
Cop cars should look goofy as hell like in Europe. If the police needs to intimidate to maintain authority, there are systemic issues that need to be dealt with in other ways.
Agreedo; the cars in Europe look goofy as hell because they need to stand out for safety reasons, among others. Here, they want the cars to hide out and pounce because that’s the relationship cops have with the public, as predators among prey.
Might as well have a decal that says “Sexual Predator Pretending to be a State Trooper.”
Hey at least they did something. CT doesn’t even try, they’re just silver with a push bar on the front. No decals of any sort. Even the lights are hidden in the windshield/back window.
https://www.publicservicevehicles.com/police/ct/csp
Do you remember when CT used 5.0 Mustangs, GNXs and Mazda 6s, all unmarked?
Growing up, the local police cars were just plain white sedans with a big star on the doors and highly visible lights on top. They also had these small generic “Sheriff” or “Deputy” stickers on the fenders very similar to the police cars from Dukes of Hazzard. Neighboring areas had similar set ups just with different base colors.The whole set up was simple, effective, and visible. Does anyone remember that police cars are supposed to be visible so citizens can locate them when needed?
Ha, that would require them to actually care about citizens needs. Instead, we get “ghost” police cars with hidden decals visible enough to not be illegal patrolling our roads.
The platonic ideal of american cop cars have to be the 90s/2000s Pennsylvania State Police.
Simple black stripes on white body, minimalist, but with an extremely showy multicolor v-lightbar and warning stripes on the rear with identifying badges and “STATE TROOPER/POLICE” on the fenders.
The design communicates “we are a government agency charged with public safety” instead of being vaguely antagonistic like the “stealth” paintjobs they have now which are designed to be hidden from view without legally being hidden.
Yep. In my mind, the whole point is that they’re supposed to be highly visible; you want stealth, that’s what unmarked ones are for.
The PA cars (trucks?) use ghost lettering that is hard to read. Not nice.
That looks terrible. It’s like some person with a cop fetish got a black Charger and dolled it up to be a cruiser.
NY does an okay job with their state trooper vehicles. The cruisers are navy blue with gold reflector stripes down the sides. Instantly identifiable and probably a pain to fake.
Those are all pretty bad TBH, but yeah Nebraska dug under the bar on the ground. They look like mailbox decal letters you get at a hardware store.
I have always been a fun of the British police car livery:
https://superbiamk.shop/product_details/35018928.html
And its a diesel estate! 268hp/650Nm in stock form, and the British police are known to be particularly good at tuning their cars.
All of the ones posted elsewhere look photoshopped poorly. stop trying too hard and make a nice realistic picture, I know helis etc but damn they all look so bad.