Staff photo / Nathanael Hawthorne From left, Austintown Sgt. Valorie Delmont, Jeffrey McFalls, and Lt. Mark Skowron, stand by one of the Austintown police cruisers fitted with the new rear license plates McFalls designed for the department. McFalls created the design and now all the vehicles will bare his creation.

AUSTINTOWN — The township police cruisers will have a slightly altered look after a donation of newly designed license plates were gifted to the police department.

Jeffrey McFalls, of Niles, created the new plates and presented them to police Chief Robert Gavalier at Monday’s trustee meeting. The new design adds the Austintown Fitch “F” signifying the relationship between the high school and the police department, township Trustee Jim Davis said.

“We wanted to show community support,” Davis said. “This was a way to honor them.”

The new design started after Davis saw some of the work McFalls has done on social media, but the two actually met while both were enrolled in the police academy in the early 2000s.

“(Davis) asked me to do them. He knew what I did, we went to the police academy together, he reached out and I said I would be more than happy to (design them),” McFalls said.

McFalls independently designs a bounty of items from customized tumblers to designs for local high school athletic clothing. He said Greenwood Chevrolet helped with putting on a clear coat so the plates would have a longer life, and McFalls is appreciative of their help.

“They did a hell of a job,” he said. “They had no problem helping out, and I appreciate their help, and that they didn’t charge to get them finished.”

Davis said when he contacted McFalls about the design, he had a rough copy to show Gavalier. After a couple of changes, Gavalier approved, and the new plates were in the works.

“When (Davis) brought this up to us, we wanted to make sure it was done professionally and this turned out to be perfect. It makes the cars look professional,” Gavalier said.

During the presentation, McFalls said he was thankful for the opportunity, saying he was “humbled and honored” to take on the project.

“I’ve made a few (license plates), but I never expected I would have a whole police department ask me to do them for the entire fleet,” McFalls said.

Sgt. Valorie Delmont said the Fitch emblem is a nice touch.

“It’s always nice to have the cars be identifiable to both us and the public. I think they look fantastic,” she said.

nhawthorne@tribtoday.com