Police cars, uniforms and equipment could carry sponsors’ logos to raise money for the force under a plan unveiled by Police Crime Commissioner David Lloyd.

The idea for businesses to advertise through the force and even have products officially endorsed by Hertfordshire Constabulary was first proposed in Mr Lloyd’s Police and Crime Plan.

In the plan, Mr Lloyd writes: "The strong commercial brands based in, or operating within Hertfordshire may see business sense in collaborating with me on a range of direct sponsorship and corporate responsibility ventures.

"This could include sponsorship of elements of my DriveSafe initiative or sponsoring traffic calming measures outside our schools.

"Finding new and innovative ways of securing funding will ensure that the people of Hertfordshire can continue to enjoy exceptional policing as well as low taxes.

"I will establish a commercial unit to assess properly and implement a range of proposals to partner better with business."

Speaking to the Watford Observer Mr Lloyd expanded on the idea and said he would welcome contact from businesses interested in sponsoring the force through direct advertising.

He said: "From a business point of view anything is possible.

"Clearly I wouldn’t want it to be the case that you couldn’t identify police officers from the uniform they are wearing, but for example if a local company wants to sponsor stab vests then we would listen to that.

"If someone wanted to put branding on our police vehicles then let’s talk about it. I’m not going to say a definite no because I am open to that sort of idea."

However Mr Lloyd rules out any renaming of the force, saying the name Hertfordshire Constabulary was not for sale.

The idea was tentatively welcomed by Neal Alston, chairman of the Hertfordshire Police Federation who stressed any advertisement must not compromise police independence.

He said: "We have had sponsorship of vehicles for a long time, some neighbourhood cars we have had provided by local companies so it’s not a completely new idea.

"Our concern as always is independence in policing, we would want very clear agreements that sponsors won’t be treated any differently.

"If someone wants to provide equipment then that’s great but we wouldn’t want our officers looking like they are wearing football shirts.

"I think the solution is probably more complex than that but the big thing for us is independence of policing."