Unless you’re performing undercover work, police graphics are only as effective as they are visible. The public needs to easily see your police graphics to be aware of your presence and know where to turn for help.
Police Graphics: Why Visibility Matters
Here, we’ll discuss why high-visibility police graphics are so important and the strategies for obtaining them.
1. Enhancing Public Safety
Police graphics of high-visibility design are an important factor in public security. When citizens can recognize a police car, they feel more secure because they are aware that the police are near.
Potential criminals often think twice about committing a crime if they see a marked police car. In an emergency, a police vehicle can be easily located and approached for help, which can be a lifesaver in accidents, when a person is ill, or when one is lost.
2. Increasing Police Presence and Authority
Visibility is a predominant aspect of policing. An identifiable police cruiser can have an authoritative presence. It also helps police control crowds and assert their presence. This may have a deterrent effect in dangerous
areas and when controlling crowds at large events.
Adding reflective striping and high-visibility graphics can send a message of authority. It signals that policing is proactive and observant, ready to respond and react.
3. Enhancing Communication and Public Relations
The high-visibility graphics that mark police cars are also a form of communication: they communicate the police departments name and contact information and sometimes its slogans or mission statements.
These graphics can connect the police and the community, encouraging the public to feel recognized and respected. When the vehicles are more identifiable, the police are also more identifiable as people who serve the community, not just enforcers who catch people breaking the law.
4. Improving Officer Safety
Clearly marked police cars can save the lives of police officers by encouraging other motorists to slow down, move over, and pay attention. This is especially important for officers situated on the side of the road and engaged in
traffic stops or roadside service calls.
Visible police cars also safeguard individual officers during high-speed pursuits or emergency responses, as other road users can identify a police vehicle and get out of the way.
5. Enhancing Nighttime Visibility
These diagrams are obligatory for nighttime duties since reflectors make police vehicles visible at a further distance, even in low-lighted areas. This heightened visibility means other drivers will likely spot a police vehicle on the road. As a consequence, collisions could be reduced, and the police could perform their job more effectively.
Reflective graphics and emergency lights function as a visual early-warning system that signals to the public the whereabouts of police and their level of activity.
6. Customizing Graphics for Your Department
Police graphics that make officers and their vehicles highly visible can be customized to reflect the specific needs of police departments.
For police departments in urban, crowded, and fast-paced environments, this might demand bolder graphics that broadcast their presence.
On the other hand, rural departments might have more of a need to make both officers and vehicles highly visible in more natural settings.
For example, a K9, SWAT, or traffic enforcement specialty unit might tweak its graphics so that the public and other police officers can see what it is at a glance.
Strategies for Achieving High-Visibility Police Graphics
Here are some proven strategies to help departments create a highly visible and effective fleet.
1. Use of Reflective and Fluorescent Materials
Reflective materials reflect light back to the source and are the most effective tools in police graphics to increase visibility.
When light enters a reflective graphic, it bounces off it back to where it came from. This property makes reflective graphics visible in the dark.
Fluorescent colors, absorbed by the eyes and then re-emitted with a longer wavelength, stand out in light outside the darkness.
Combining reflectors and fluorescent materials makes police vehicles detectable at all times and under all lighting conditions.
2. Strategic Placement of Graphics
Ideally, your graphics will be on several areas of your vehicle, including the hood and the sides, which are the most visible areas.
You want graphics where other drivers and pedestrians from all angles will likely see them – in most cases, at eye level because that’s where people look. You’ll also want the graphics large enough that the vehicle is unmistakably a police car.
3. Bold and Clear Design
Police graphics are usually designed to be bold, simple, and easily recognizable. The big characters, contrasting colors, and simple shapes of the design can attract people’s attention more easily.
The design’s intention doesn’t need to be complicated: remove any unnecessary cluttering and avoid obscure words in the text.
The logos, symbols, and department names are clearly displayed so the public can easily recognize the car as a police car.
4. Incorporating Technology
Emerging technologies will also enhance police graphics further. For instance, LED-illuminated graphics can be attached to police graphics to enhance their visibility at night or in poor weather.
Police cars can be similarly fitted with digital displays to display dynamic messaging live, which might be even more effective in the presence of the police vehicle.
5. Regular Maintenance and Updates
Vehicle graphics must be maintained and updated periodically. Over time, they will fade, begin to peel, chip, or crack from constant exposure to the elements, and naturally become harder to read.
Regular maintenance allows police departments to frequently check the graphics to ensure they stay vivid and unblemished.
With businesses constantly rebranding or changing logos and contact information, the graphics can be redesigned to match the new information, keeping the public up to date and arming the vehicle with the latest communication devices.
Effective Police Graphics for Your Fleet
The aesthetics of police graphics aren’t just about looking good—although that is important. The graphics on police vehicles are key because they ensure they are highly visible.
When police vehicles are more visible, they help keep the public safe, ensure authority is clearly established, keep officers safe, and improve relations between officers and communities.
Because of this, graphics made more visible through the use of reflective and fluorescent materials, placement, design, and technology are more likely to be noticed.
Contact Graphic Designs International for professional design help with your police car graphics. Their years of expertise will ensure your fleet is visible, effective, and sharp.
