2023 Winners

International and Region 2

Kentucky State Police

KSP Substance Abuse Display Exhibit

The Kentucky State Police (KSP) refurbished an old 45-foot trailer into a mobile substance abuse display exhibit to educate Kentuckians about the dangers of drugs. The trailer had to be completely wrapped on the outside and interior. A team of 3 employees worked on developing content, graphics, and installation of all items. All the exterior wrap and interior graphic design was developed by a KSP employee. They used the agency colors to develop a pattern and used that throughout the display unit. They worked with drug enforcement troopers to develop content for the display unit. Once that information was obtained, the graphic designer created images, posters, video board content and display labels. The intended audience is all of Kentucky, mostly teens. The mobile unit can be pulled with a pickup truck, and can be transported to schools, colleges, workplaces, festivals, and other venues. The strategy employed was to refurbish a current asset into something the agency could use to educate the public about the dangers of drugs and hopefully, decrease drug related fatalities and crime. They utilized grant funding from the KY Office of Drug Control Policy to purchase the wraps for the exterior and interior of the trailer and to purchase the 3D items for the display cases. The tactic used was to create an eye-catching display that would attract people to the unit. In 2022, the mobile substance abuse display traveled to over 500 venues with over 45,000 visitors.

Region 1

Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles

Driver License Examiner Heritage Display

In early 2021, Maine BMV recognized an opportunity to celebrate the nearly 100-year-old professional heritage of their driver license examinations Maine. Over the course of the last 25 years, 15 boxes of old manuals, licenses, photos, equipment and uniforms had been collected as part of a grass-roots effort to preserve our examination history. BMV’s Examiners reached-out to current and former Examiners for donations to round-out the collection. Fast-forward to early August 2021, when display space had been allocated in the high-traffic area of the BMV Main Office foyer to catch the eyes of all visitors and employees; display cases were subsequently identified and refurbished for use. A selection of uniforms and hats marks the progression of gray/black police-style uniforms in the 1960s to today’s crisp white shirts, black neckties, and BMV patches. Manuals dating back to the 1910s, 20s, and 30s demonstrate how few rules were actually on the books for Examiners to evaluate against in the early days of driving in Maine. They even collected a stack of nearly fifty 100-year-old licenses, issued after successful road examination by Maine’s Examiners. These licenses tell the story of a generation born in the 1800s stepping forward to take advantage of a new technology. In total, the display is a worthy representation of the long history of professionalism, respect, integrity, due diligence, and equality that Maine’s Driver License Examiners exhibit every day, ultimately serving as the first and most important contribution to road and driver safety.

Region 3

Iowa Motor Vehicle Division

Fake ID Education Literature

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Investigation Identity Protection began conversing with colleges and universities due to the increased use of counterfeit DL's/IDs, especially with underage college students. When talking to underclassman and enforcement, it was apparent that many underage students have a fake ID but do not understand the repercussions of having the fake ID or how it could negatively impact their future. Iowa partnered with colleges and universities to get the education out to this community and created literature (flyer, poster, or handout) as an educational tool to be used on campus during freshman orientation. The literature was intended to provide an overview of what “could happen” if one was caught with a counterfeit ID and provide some pondering examples of how using a fake ID could impact their personal life and future. The goal here was to get families to talk about this issue, provide some relevant information regarding consequences; both criminally and personally, and to provide some perspective to the student and their families that would result in the student refraining from obtaining a counterfeit DL/ID in the future. Posters were placed in high visibility areas around campus. When discussing the effectiveness of the handouts, Drake University Department of Public Safety indicated the parents generated genuine interest in the handout and started those important conversations about the risks involved with obtaining a counterfeit DL/ID. Drake University has deemed this initiative a success and requested additional flyers and posters to continue to get the education to their students and families.

Region 4

Colorado State Patrol

Museum Display: Drive Centered in Your Lane

In 2021, the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) began partnering with Rodz & Bodz Museum to provide a static display of a historical patrol vehicle along with safety messaging each quarter. Rodz & Bodz displays over 50 movie cars and specialty vehicles each month. The CSP leveraged this partnership for additional exposure of our “Stay in Your Lane” awareness efforts. This included providing a historic vehicle to the museum for display, a pull-up banner featuring the ‘Stay Centered’ message, a podium sign with vehicle information, and support marketing on CSP social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The concept was simply to target people interested in visiting the museum to learn about the issue of driving impaired while also seeing an interesting historical vehicle from our fleet. While the public was simply having fun, we were working to gain overall awareness and recognition of this life-saving law with the goal of influencing future driving behavior. During the time of the display, there were 8,711 paid visitors and 34,872 social posts engagement.