Subject: [NEXTEL-1] N.C. Police Departments Still Waiting On New Ad-Covered Vehicles

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:55:02 -0500

N.C. Police Departments Still Waiting On New Ad-Covered Vehicles
Authorities Unable To Contact Government Acquisitions

Story by wral

PIKEVILLE, N.C. -- Some local police departments jumped at the chance to
buy
patrol cars for next to nothing last year. All they had to do was
display
advertisements, similar to the ones seen in NASCAR. The departments
realize
that deal was too good to be true.

The town of Pikeville has a small police force with just two full-time
officers and two well-worn patrol cars.

"They're piecemealed together a lot of times just to stay together on
the
road for us," Pikeville Police Chief Ken Barrett said.

The department thought it found a way to solve the problem. A
Charlotte-based company called Government Acquisitions Inc. offered a
special deal. They would sell new patrol cars for just $1 each. In
exchange,
each car would display advertising logos.

Middlesex police in Nash County thought it was the perfect solution for
them, too.

"It would give us more vehicles per officer, so we'll have better
coverage
around town," Middlesex Police Chief Charles Ferrell said. "We had the
contracts sent to us, and we signed them and had them sent back and
we're
just in a waiting game," Barrett said.  The problem is they have been
waiting for more than a year.  At least 15 agencies in North Carolina
alone
signed up for the deal with Government Acquisitions. So far, none have
received patrol cars. No one can seem to get in touch with anyone from
the
company. It still has a working Web site, but phone calls go to an
answering
machine.

The departments WRAL spoke with said calls are never returned. Pikeville
police are worried because their cars just rolled over 150,000 miles.
"Our
budgets just can't afford newer cars right this minute," Barrett said.
Many
departments are now looking for other ways to squeeze cars into tight
budgets. They hope to find a deal before these cruisers give out.
WRAL also tried several times to get in touch with Government
Acquisitions
Inc., but those phone calls were not returned either.

Reporter/Photographer: Mike Charbonneau

OnLine Producer: Kamal
Wallacehttp://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?id=10496&siteSection=1

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