WHS students give North Hampton police cruiser a makeover: ‘Best-looking police car’

NORTH HAMPTON — Fortune 500 corporations spend billions on marketing, branding their companies with logos and slogans projecting the images they hope to convey.

After a difficult year, that’s what the North Hampton Police Department had in mind when it asked to update its vehicles’ appearance.

Last September, North Hampton Police Chief Robert LaBarge approached the town Select Board, advising members of the “disdain” his officers had for their lackluster black cruisers.

“I don’t want to say they hate them,” LaBarge said at the time, “but they don’t like them.”

LaBarge proposed turning the page and having Winnacunnet High School graphic arts students help create a new cruiser design.

Getting the thumbs-up from the town’s Select Board, LaBarge headed to Hampton, finding a willing ear in Donna Couture, the director of extended learning at Winnacunnet High School. She put out a notice to students to determine interest and struck gold when seniors Chloe Marx and Kaleb Joiner stepped up to the plate to take on the task.

Joiner was interested in just such an adventure.

“I really wanted to do an ELO (extended learning opportunity) project,” said Joiner. “I’d heard so much about it from other students. And the way Ms. Coulture and Mr. Long run it is great. It offers learning outside the classroom, and I liked the commitment aspect to the community it offered.”

For Marx, her interest in art and helping with a real-life project appealed to her.

“It was a really great opportunity,” said Marx. “Not just helping out the community, but taking something from an idea to reality.”

As for the man who mentored the two students through what turned out to be a nearly school-year-long project, 19-year veteran graphic arts teacher Chris Cassamas realized instantly this wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

“I was in the design industry for a while,” Cassamas said. “I knew this project was huge. It’s an extremely high-end process to take a concept and make it press-ready. The kids put in a lot of hours, most of it on their own time. It took a lot of commitment, and they handled it perfectly.”

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From design, to the press, and on the cruiser

Everyone admits there were hiccups along the way – including convincing LaBarge his wish to incorporate a sea wave into the design wasn’t going to fly.

But working as a team, being willing to go back to the drawing board a few times, Marx and Joiner put together a working model with the help of Cassamas and two local businesses.

Cassamas said the seniors added different aspects to the project with the help of Rose Dow and Crystal Dawn, of Pease-based Coastal Speedpro, and Newmarket’s New England Vehicle Outfitters’ President Rick Woods.

According to Cassamas, Marx got the team started with her artistic drawings, and then Joiner used software to computerize the design, providing the technicalities needed to get it on press.

After that, Speedpro and NEVO brought reality to bear, Cassamas said, instructing the students – and LaBarge – that some things might look nice, but they just don’t work for a press run or a cruiser’s dimensions. It was Speedpro’s job to take the design and make it into decals on its large presses and NEVO’s to apply them to the cruiser.

Dow explained exactly what kind of designs can be turned into decals for printing at large format professional printing companies like Speedpro, which works with scores of companies.

“Chloe and Kaleb did a lot of observing and listening,” she said. “And then they began asking questions. They had to start all over, but they made it work.”

The students then discovered the intricacies of applying printed decals to the Ford Explorer Interceptor SUV, like North Hampton uses, said Woods, who outfits emergency vehicles from Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire.

“I gave them some constructive criticism,” said Woods. “They were willing to listen and adjust and roll with it.”

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New cruiser design worth the wait

It took longer than expected, but the students are raving about the process and the people who taught them and allowed them to interact with their businesses.

Succeeding isn’t instantaneous, the students said, succeeding is the journey.

“We knew we weren’t going to get it perfect the first time,” Joiner said. “And I’m glad. Success comes with time.”

“I’m happy with it,” Marx said. “I got more than experience from it. I would recommend (extended learning opportunities) to others.”

LaBarge is delighted with it all, believing the effort of many produced a pleasing, functional, modern cruiser appearance everyone’s praising.

“This is their design,” LaBarge said. “It’s more visible; it increases safety; it gives us a new look, and it increases our image. I know it’s the best-looking police car around.”

Art and marketing aside, LaBarge said the design is safer because it incorporates headlight-reflective striping, making a black cruiser more visible at night, especially when officers are parked along the roadside assisting others.

Unfortunately, however, only one of the town’s five marked cruisers bears the department’s snappy new look, LaBarge said. To relieve the burden from taxpayers, he’s seeking grants and donations to underwrite the $2,500 per cruiser cost before the other four suit up.

There was plenty of praise for everyone involved in the project, especially the two students graduating this June.

Marx is heading to UNH to major in biology or statistics in pursuit of her interest in a research career as an allied science professional.

Joiner is set to matriculate at St. Anselm College, where he will consider majoring in graphic arts or business administration or, perhaps, criminal justice.

Not one of the adults they worked with on this project doubts they both have bright futures.

LaBarge is hoping Joiner might end up driving a North Hampton cruiser someday “on the job.”

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Winnacunnet students give North Hampton police cruiser a makeover