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State Troopers Held a Beauty Contest for Their Cruisers

To help instill camaraderie among state troopers throughout the country, as well as generate a little publicity, the American Association of State Troopers launched a social media campaign calling on people to vote for the “Best Looking Cruiser.”

Congratulations are in order for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, whose cruisers recently won a beauty contest of sorts.

One of our main purposes as a national trooper association is to help develop bonds of camaraderie among troopers nationwide, which this contest definitely helped achieve.

The Ohio troopers’ Dodge Charger was tops in the recent “Best Looking Cruiser Contest,” sponsored by the American Association of State Troopers. The car received almost 22,000 votes on Facebook during the two-week social media campaign that closed on Tuesday and reached more than one million people, said Angie Ishee, AAST public relations manager, who added that the purpose of the contest was two-fold.

“First, one of our main purposes as a national trooper association is to help develop bonds of camaraderie among troopers nationwide, which this contest definitely helped achieve,” Ishee said. “Also, the friendly competition allowed the 49 highway patrol and state police agencies to showcase their patrol cruiser, while getting publicity for their agency at no charge, which is the beauty of social media.”

The added publicity also served as a national recruiting opportunity for many agencies during a time when recruitment efforts have become difficult for many law enforcement departments, Ishee added.

In order of most votes, the top-five best-looking cruisers included the:

  • Ohio State Highway Patrol
  • West Virginia State Police
  • North Carolina State Highway Patrol
  • Alabama Highway Patrol
  • Minnesota State Patrol

The Ohio State troopers reserve bragging rights and their car will be featured in an upcoming issue of AAST’s publication Trooper Connection.

This was the first “Best Looking Cruiser Contest” for AAST, which represents active and retired state troopers, state police officers, and highway patrol officers. The organization is hoping the contest will be the first of many, including a future best-looking motorcycle contest.

“We were very pleased with the results,” Ishee said. “What we were most pleased with was the input from the community. It was amazing to see the support of their state troopers and the deep pride in the troopers serving their area. It just goes to show the relationship that troopers have worked hard to build in their communities.”

Ohio troopers’ Dodge Charger, which won the contest. (via the group's Facebook page)

Katie Bascuas

By Katie Bascuas

Katie Bascuas is associate editor of Associations Now. MORE

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