Keep police ad cars off our streets

Wed, 30 Oct 2002 07:55:06 -0800

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Commercial Alert, October 30, 2002

Commercial Alert and twenty criminal justice experts sent letters today
to CEOs of the 100 leading national advertisers, asking them not to buy
ads on police cars.  The letters say that the ads turn police cars into
“rolling billboards,” make police “objects of ridicule and scorn,” and
“may invite crime, by reducing the moral authority of the police.”

According to news reports, twelve cities have agreed to purchase police
cruisers with ads, and another 75 are considering it.

This isn't a Halloween nightmare. Government Acquisitions LLC is
covering police cars from headlight to taillight with ads. See a police
car with a McDonald's logo at <http://www.commercialalert.org>.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
Please ask your city or county’s police chief or sheriff to take the
“Commercial-Free Police Pledge” not to buy sponsored police cars.  The
pledge says "To uphold the integrity and moral authority of law
enforcement in our community, I hereby pledge never to purchase police
cars bearing advertisements."

The “Commercial-Free Police Pledge” form is available at
<http://www.commercialalert.org/policepledge.pdf>. If your local police
chief or sheriff makes the pledge, please fax or mail the pledge form
back to Commercial Alert (fax: 503.235.5073).

The letter to the CEOs of the 100 leading national advertisers follows.

Dear ----------------:

In these days of violence and unrest, respect for law has become a
precious civic asset, and that includes respect for those who enforce
the law.  It is imperative that we resist all that would cheapen or
degrade the men and women who maintain order in our communities, or
would make them objects of ridicule and contempt.

For this reason we urge that you not participate in a scheme to put
advertising on local police cars, promoted by a company called
Government Acquisitions LLC. There are many, many venues for advertising
in America today.  This is one of the worst.

Government Acquisitions is taking advantage of the budget shortfalls
facing local governments in order to turn police cars into rolling
billboards.  The company sells the ad space, and then sells the cars to
police departments for a dollar each.   According to the Washington
Post, about 75 cities and towns are talking with the company about
buying the sponsored police cruisers. The Christian Science Monitor
reports that twelve towns have agreed to purchase them already.

It is understandable that some police departments would succumb to this
temptation.  Many of them need money, and the nation's politicians have
not provided it.  But dependence on corporate advertising simply delays
the day of fiscal reckoning.  Besides, the answer to the budget problems
of local police forces is not to turn their cars -- the most visible
police presence in most communities -- into pitchmobiles, and officers
themselves into hucksters on wheels.  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?

The rule of law depends on the impartiality of our nation’s system of
law enforcement.  That impartiality is compromised when police officers
act as marketing agents for corporations.  The Government Acquisitions
police cars can easily lead to conflicts of interest when police take
action that affects their advertisers.  For example, a police officer
may be inclined to “go easy” on a local business whose ads are on the
police department’s cars.

Our nation’s police departments need neither conflicts of interest nor
farce, either now or any other time. In the long run, both may invite
crime, by reducing the moral authority of the police.

We urge that you not aid this scheme.  There are better ways to support
the local police -- ways that honor law enforcement officials rather
than turning them into objects of ridicule and scorn.

Sincerely,

Albert W. Alschuler, Wilson-Dickinson Professor of Law, University of
Chicago Law School
Peter Barnes, Co-founder, Working Assets; author, Who Owns the Sky?
Adam Benedetto, Candidate for Sheriff of Dane County, Madison WI
David Bollier, author, Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of our Common
Wealth
David Bosworth, Associate Professor of English, University of Washington

Jason Catlett, President, Junkbusters Corp.
Paul G. Chevigny, Joel S. and Anne B. Ehrenkranz Professor of Law, New
York University Law School, author of Police Power and Cops and Rebels
Tom Cook, Professor of Criminal Justice, Wayne State College, Nebraska
Christopher C. Cooper, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice,
Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal
Justice, Saint Xavier University
Marilyn Corsianos, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology,
Anthropology, and Criminology, Eastern Michigan University
Adrienne D. Davis, Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School
of Law
Mike Feinstein, Mayor, City of Santa Monica
Ruth E. Fleury-Steiner, Assistant Professor, Department of Individual
and Family Studies, University of Delaware
Monroe H. Freedman, Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal
Ethics, Hofstra Law School
Craig B. Futterman, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, University of
Chicago Law School
John J. Gibbs, Professor of Criminology, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
Jona Goldschmidt, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice,
Loyola University
Matt Gonzalez, Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Nancy A. Horton, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice,
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Michael Jacobson, co-author, Marketing Madness
Sut Jhally, Founder and Executive Director, The Media Education
Foundation
Jean Kilbourne, Author, Can’t Buy Me Love: How Advertising Changes the
Way We Think And Feel
Alan J. Lizotte, Professor, School of Criminal Justice, University at
Albany
Arthur J. Lurigio, Professor of Criminal Justice, Loyola University
Ben Manski, Co-Chair, Green Party of the United States
Randy Martin, Professor, Department of Criminology, Indiana University
of Pennsylvania
Robert McChesney, Research Professor, Institute of Communications
Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; author, Rich
Media, Poor Democracy
Bob McCannon, Executive Director, New Mexico Media Literacy Project
Jim Metrock, President, Obligation, Inc.
Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Ecology, New York University
Norval Morris, Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology,
Emeritus, University of Chicago Law School
Robert Pugsley, Paul E. Treusch Professor of Law, Southwestern
University School of Law
Cliff Roberson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Washburn University
Dennis Rosenbaum, Professor of Criminal Justice and Psychology,
Department of Criminal Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago
Gary Ruskin, Executive Director, Commercial Alert; Director,
Congressional Accountability Project
Ron Tannehill, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Washburn
University
Sandra Wachholz, Professor of Criminology, University of Southern Maine
Robert Weissman, co-director, Essential Action

<-------letter ends here------->

Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its
proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting
the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and
democracy. Commercial Alert has more than 1,500 members representing all
50 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, see our
website at <http://www.commercialalert.org>.

Commercial Alert's materials are distributed via our email list. To
subscribe, go to
<http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert>, or send
a blank message to <subscribe@commercialalert.org>. Subscribers receive
1-2 emails per week.

This note is posted at:
<http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/commercial-alert/2002/000125.html>.

--
Gary Ruskin | gary@commercialalert.org
Commercial Alert | http://www.commercialalert.org/
Congressional Accountability Project |
http://www.congressproject.org/
phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073

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Commercial Alert, October 30, 2002
Commercial Alert and twenty criminal justice
experts sent letters today to CEOs of the 100 leading national advertisers,
asking them not to buy ads on police cars.&nbsp; The letters say that the
ads turn police cars into “rolling billboards,” make police “objects of
ridicule and scorn,” and “may invite crime, by reducing the moral authority
of the police.”
According to news reports, twelve cities have
agreed to purchase police cruisers with ads, and another 75 are considering
it.
This isn't a Halloween nightmare.&nbsp; Government
Acquisitions LLC is covering police cars from headlight to taillight with
ads.&nbsp; See a police car with a McDonald's logo at &lt;<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org">http://www.commercialalert.org</a>>.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
 Please ask your city or county’s police chief
or sheriff to take the “<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/policepledge.pdf">Commercial-Free
Police Pledge</a>” not to buy sponsored police cars.&nbsp; The pledge says
"To uphold the integrity and moral authority of law enforcement in our
community, I hereby pledge never to purchase police cars bearing advertisements."
The “Commercial-Free Police Pledge” form is
available at &lt;<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/policepledge.pdf">http://www.commercialalert.org/policepledge.pdf</a>>.&nbsp;
If your local police chief or sheriff makes the pledge, please fax or mail
the pledge form back to Commercial Alert (fax: 503.235.5073).
The letter to the CEOs of the 100 leading
national advertisers follows.
Dear ----------------:
In these days of violence and unrest, respect
for law has become a precious civic asset, and that includes respect for
those who enforce the law.&nbsp; It is imperative that we resist all that
would cheapen or degrade the men and women who maintain order in our communities,
or would make them objects of ridicule and contempt.
For this reason we urge that you not participate
in a scheme to put advertising on local police cars, promoted by a company
called Government Acquisitions LLC. There are many, many venues for advertising
in America today.&nbsp; This is one of the worst.
Government Acquisitions is taking advantage
of the budget shortfalls facing local governments in order to turn police
cars into rolling billboards.&nbsp; The company sells the ad space, and
then sells the cars to police departments for a dollar each.&nbsp;&nbsp;
According to the Washington Post, about 75 cities and towns are talking
with the company about buying the sponsored police cruisers. The Christian
Science Monitor reports that twelve towns have agreed to purchase them
already.
It is understandable that some police departments
would succumb to this temptation.&nbsp; Many of them need money, and the
nation's politicians have not provided it.&nbsp; But dependence on corporate
advertising simply delays the day of fiscal reckoning.&nbsp; Besides, the
answer to the budget problems of local police forces is not to turn their
cars -- the most visible police presence in most communities -- into pitchmobiles,
and officers themselves into hucksters on wheels.&nbsp; 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?
The rule of law depends on the impartiality
of our nation’s system of law enforcement.&nbsp; That impartiality is compromised
when police officers act as marketing agents for corporations.&nbsp; The
Government Acquisitions police cars can easily lead to conflicts of interest
when police take action that affects their advertisers.&nbsp; For example,
a police officer may be inclined to “go easy” on a local business whose
ads are on the police department’s cars.
Our nation’s police departments need neither
conflicts of interest nor farce, either now or any other time. In the long
run, both may invite crime, by reducing the moral authority of the police.
We urge that you not aid this scheme.&nbsp;
There are better ways to support the local police -- ways that honor law
enforcement officials rather than turning them into objects of ridicule
and scorn.
Sincerely,
Albert W. Alschuler, Wilson-Dickinson Professor
of Law, University of Chicago Law School
 Peter Barnes, Co-founder, Working Assets;
author, Who Owns the Sky?
 Adam Benedetto, Candidate for Sheriff of
Dane County, Madison WI
 David Bollier, author, Silent Theft: The
Private Plunder of our Common Wealth
 David Bosworth, Associate Professor of English,
University of Washington
 Jason Catlett, President, Junkbusters Corp.
 Paul G. Chevigny, Joel S. and Anne B. Ehrenkranz
Professor of Law, New York University Law School, author of Police Power
and Cops and Rebels
 Tom Cook, Professor of Criminal Justice,
Wayne State College, Nebraska
 Christopher C. Cooper, Assistant Professor
of Criminal Justice, Department of Sociology, Anthropology &amp; Criminal
 Justice, Saint Xavier University
 Marilyn Corsianos, Assistant Professor, Department
of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, Eastern Michigan University
 Adrienne D. Davis, Professor of Law, University
of North Carolina School of Law
 Mike Feinstein, Mayor, City of Santa Monica
 Ruth E. Fleury-Steiner, Assistant Professor,
Department of Individual and Family Studies, University of Delaware
 Monroe H. Freedman, Lichtenstein Distinguished
Professor of Legal Ethics, Hofstra Law School
 Craig B. Futterman, Assistant Clinical Professor
of Law, University of Chicago Law School
 John J. Gibbs, Professor of Criminology,
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
 Jona Goldschmidt, Associate Professor, Department
of Criminal Justice, Loyola University
 Matt Gonzalez, Member, San Francisco Board
of Supervisors
 Nancy A. Horton, Assistant Professor, Department
of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Eastern Shore
 Michael Jacobson, co-author, Marketing
Madness
 Sut Jhally, Founder and Executive Director,
The Media Education Foundation
 Jean Kilbourne, Author, Can’t Buy Me Love:
How Advertising Changes the Way We Think And Feel
 Alan J. Lizotte, Professor, School of Criminal
Justice, University at Albany
 Arthur J. Lurigio, Professor of Criminal
Justice, Loyola University
 Ben Manski, Co-Chair, Green Party of the
United States
 Randy Martin, Professor, Department of Criminology,
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
 Robert McChesney, Research Professor, Institute
of Communications Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
author, Rich Media, Poor Democracy
 Bob McCannon, Executive Director, New Mexico
Media Literacy Project
 Jim Metrock, President, Obligation, Inc.
 Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Ecology,
New York University
 Norval Morris, Julius Kreeger Professor of
Law and Criminology, Emeritus, University of Chicago Law School
 Robert Pugsley, Paul E. Treusch Professor
of Law, Southwestern University School of Law
 Cliff Roberson, Professor of Criminal Justice,
Washburn University
 Dennis Rosenbaum, Professor of Criminal Justice
and Psychology, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Illinois
at Chicago
 Gary Ruskin, Executive Director, Commercial
Alert; Director, Congressional Accountability Project
 Ron Tannehill, Assistant Professor of Criminal
Justice, Washburn University
 Sandra Wachholz, Professor of Criminology,
University of Southern Maine
 Robert Weissman, co-director, Essential Action
&lt;-------letter ends here------->
Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the
commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting
children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental
integrity and democracy. Commercial Alert has more than 1,500 members representing
all 50 states and the District of Columbia.&nbsp; For more information,
see our website at &lt;<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org">http://www.commercialalert.org</a>>.
Commercial Alert's materials are distributed
via our email list. To subscribe, go to &lt;<a href="http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert">http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert</a>>,
or send a blank message to &lt;<a href="mailto:subscribe@commercialalert.org">subscribe@commercialalert.org</a>>.&nbsp;
Subscribers receive 1-2 emails per week.
This note is posted at: &lt;<a href="http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/commercial-alert/2002/000124.html">http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/commercial-alert/2002/000125.html</a>>.
 --
 Gary Ruskin | gary@commercialalert.org
 Commercial Alert | <a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/">http://www.commercialalert.org/</a>
 Congressional Accountability Project |
 <a href="http://www.congressproject.org/">http://www.congressproject.org/</a>
 phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073</html>

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