IRVINE : Smoke, Tears Drive Drug Message Home

Police displayed a talking, crying, smoke-spewing truck Tuesday that will be added to the department’s anti-drug arsenal.

Irvine police seized the jacked-up 4x4 Toyota pickup from drug dealers and had been using it in undercover work. But in a fitting turnaround, the truck has been converted to a multicolored, eye-catching vehicle to be used in the city’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, or DARE.

“It’s such a hot-looking truck for the kids,” Lt. Vic Thies said Tuesday.

The truck will travel to schools, where its ability to talk, blow smoke from its grill, flash its lights, roar its siren and even cry by dripping water from its headlights will be used to deliver anti-drug, anti-smoking and other health and safety messages to children.

Through donations, police had the truck revamped and specialized equipment installed, Thies said. Once the sound system is finished next month, he said, the truck will hit the education circuit.

Police on Tuesday also unveiled a series of 16 police trading cards with anti-drug messages that will be given to children. The cards feature police officers in various poses, from the special-weapons team rappelling a building to testifying in court.

One card features city narcotics officers staring seriously into the camera, one pointing a shotgun and the other a submachine gun.

“It’s a very intimidating, threatening kind of pose, one that would keep me off of drugs,” Thies joked. “We’re trying to show the drug dealers that we’re serious.”

Five-thousand copies of each card have been printed through donated services. Collectors will be able to buy the entire set on an uncut sheet for $20. The money will go to the city’s anti-drug education program, he said.