The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
CRUISING IN TITAN PRIDE
New vehicles painted Titan blue and silver to connect with Lorain High School
The Lorain Police Department showed off some of its new rides March 12 at Lorain High School.
The pair of Ford Explorers are specifically painted silver and blue to match the school’s colors.
According to Lorain Police Chief Cel Rivera, the paint job was a measure to try and build some civic pride.
“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for quite some time,” he said. “We’ve often thought about changing our colors to match the school colors. We’ve found that any progressive city around here, you notice that the police cars always have the colors of the schools and it helps build this sense of pride, a sense of community.”
The new cruisers were
“...it helps build this sense of pride, a sense of community.” — Lorain Police Chief Cel Rivera, regarding building civic pride by painting police vehicles according to school colors
purchased through a community development block grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to Rivera.
They were procured in a round of purchasing that brought the department 14 black cruisers and four Ford Escapes.
Because of the funding, the Explorers are confined to the area around the school, so one will be driven by Lorain High Student Resource Officer David Kuznir and the other will be driven by members of the Community Impact Unit.
As part of the unveiling, members of the student body were let out of class to check out the new cars.
Jeff Hawks, chief operations officer for the district, said new vehicles look great.
“It just goes with the community pride, the Titan pride,” he said. “As a community I think it’s just another thing showing something positive as a school district, as a community we are as one.”
According to Hawks, he believes the new paint job will let the students know that the police are in a partnership with them.
“We’re all together as one,” he said. “We’re all here to do what’s right and what’s positive for our community.”
The 20 students who were released to look at the new cars seemed impressed with the paint jobs. Many remarked they were “nice” and several pulled out cellphones to take pictures.
Jacodimus Lee, 15, of Lorain, said the cars are “amazing.”
“It’s something special and something that the community, everyone, needs to see that (the police) are making an effort to be more involved,” he said. “I think it’s great.”