Sheriff Scraps Plan to Put His Name on Cars

Responding in part to public criticism, Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona announced Friday that he has abandoned a proposal to add his name to the department’s approximately 300 patrol cars.

Letters, calls and e-mail, most of them critical, have poured into the Sheriff’s Department since the proposal became public last month. Carona said the decision to kill the plan was made at a meeting of his top staff two weeks ago.

The sheriff called the plan a clever but flawed marketing concept. He stressed, however, that details were made public before staff members could carefully review the matter and that no final decision had been made.

“The name on the car ended up being not such a great idea,” Carona said. “Clearly, public opinion had an effect, but it wasn’t the sole reason for our conclusion.”