ROCKINGHAM — You’re not seeing things if you think something’s a little odd about the police car parked down the street. The front end does look like a police cruiser and the back, like a bright yellow taxi.

The Dodge Charger is the Rockingham Police Department’s newest weapon against drunken driving. Officers will park it around town and at events to show people that when they have a little too much to drink, they also have a choice: Drive and risk a criminal charge, or call a taxi.

The car’s first official event will be National Night Out, Aug. 1 at Cole Plaza.

“I don’t think there’s any other agency in our region that has this,” Rockingham Police Sgt. Marcus Ricks said Thursday. Part of Ricks’s job is providing safety information to children and others in the public. The car will serve as a multicolored visual aid.

So far this year, Rockingham police have charged 16 people with driving while intoxicated. Seven passengers have been charged with possessing or consuming alcohol.

“This is the deadliest thing we do every day,” Ricks said — “get behind the wheel of a car.” Especially if unrestrained children are bouncing around inside the car. Or a driver is consuming alcohol.

But the car isn’t intended to warn just Rockingham residents, said Chief Billy Kelly, who has been with the department 25 years: “It’s for anybody that sees it” on the way through town, to the beach or wherever.

Kelly is also Region 6 law enforcement liaison with the governor’s highway safety program. The region includes Richmond, Anson, Cumberland, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Scotland and Stanly counties.

The car has been retired from the department’s fleet of cruisers, but it’s not too old to function.

Besides promoting safe driving, it will be used to show people how fast the heat index can rise in a vehicle left in the summer sun.

Teaming with Safe Kids North Carolina, Ricks will take the car to the Lowe’s parking lot this summer, to show people “the difference in the heat — exterior temperature and interior temperature,” the chief said. Children and animals left in superheated vehicles can suffer heatstroke or death.

Reach reporter Christine Carroll at 910-817-2673.

Christine S. Carroll | Daily Journal
Sgt. Marcus Ricks stands near the Rockingham Police Departments new rolling public service announcement, encouraging drivers who drink to take a cab or go to jail.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_rpd_ricks_taxi.jpgChristine S. Carroll | Daily Journal
Sgt. Marcus Ricks stands near the Rockingham Police Departments new rolling public service announcement, encouraging drivers who drink to take a cab or go to jail.
Rolling billboard aims to discourage drunk driving

By Christine S. Carroll

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