Creative approaches to obtaining additional funding for local police departments include: obtaining revenue from private sources; asset forfeiture; nontraditional revenue sources such as charging fees for traditional services and charging sentenced prisoners a fee to be incarcerated; selling advertising rights and department products, assets, or services; and the generation of revenue through additional taxes. Police executives need to keep an open mind and to network with successful members of the business community to gain new ideas about ways to resolve financial problems. The 9-dot box exercise used in management training serves as a reminder that to solve police funding problems, an executive must think "outside" the task of connecting the dots. 6 references