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Athens Police Captain Ralph Harvey says a new the joint police car is actually a former OU Police Department vehicle.

 

The design selected was part of a contest to brand the new cruiser.

 

The two police departments wanted to encourage people from the university and the city to work together and submit a joint design.

 

For several years the two departments have worked together to keep the city safe.     

 

Harvey says the joint patrol allows the departments to cover more ground and observe the community.

 

"Anytime you have a serious call, say domestic or violent person, you always want to dispatch two officers. With a joint patrol vehicle with two officers in it already, both the university and the city have the opportunity, resource I'd guess you say, to send that cruiser to that and not tie up two separate cruisers, leaving them both out in different parts of the city to observe and deter crime," said Harvey.

 

Harvey says that generally joint patrols are in the evening between 5 p.m. and 4 a.m.

 

He says that is the time period where the departments receive the highest volume of calls that would benefit from joint patrol.

 

OU graphic designer, Scott Oancea, and his student assistant, Stanislav Semukhin, supplied the winning logo, which was unveiled Tuesday.