A sponsorship deal between the Queensland Police Service and the oil and gas giant Santos has some conservationists seeing red.

The blue Santos logo is displayed on some Queensland police cars as part of an outback road safety campaign.

Drew Hutton from the anti-coal seam gas group Lock the Gate Alliance said it was an unacceptable conflict of interest.

But police defended the move, saying the money was a valuable addition to a road safety campaign called "Stay On Track Outback".

Santos is one of the biggest players in Queensland's controversial coal seam gas industry.

Mr Hutton said having the Santos name emblazoned on police cars was not a good look.

"Advertising a company like Santos, which is a big coal seam gas company in Queensland, on the side of vehicles of the police whose job it is to enforce the law - including I might add against protestors who don't like coal seam gas - is a really bad idea," he said.

Santos 'one of many' sponsors on police cars

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said Santos was one of a string of sponsors for the campaign, aimed at tourists with caravans on remote roads.

Mr Stewart said Santos had contributed about $40,000 to the program.

"There's two vehicles and what they do, they're all emblazoned with the safety messages that are central to this whole project and to carry the sponsor's name," he said.

"But that's no different from the Brisbane Airport Corporation, RACQ - they're on other police vehicles, as is Crimestoppers who sponsor some of our work.

"This is something we've been doing forever."

Commissioner Stewart said Queensland police had accepted sponsorship for a range of projects for years.

He pointed out the cars printed with the Santos logo were not used in day-to-day operations.

"These are PR vehicles that we use at shows, we use at expos, all of those sorts of things just as any PR machine would be used by a company or another government organisation.

"This is not just Queensland Police that do this, I think every police agency in Australia does the same thing.

"We're always looking for sponsorships for particular programs that quite literally we want to focus on."

In New South Wales, a sponsor's logo can be displayed on a police car, but that car cannot be used for operational duties.

Police 'compromised' by the deal

Mr Hutton said the debate over Queensland's coal seam gas industry should have made police think twice about accepting the Santos sponsorship.

"It's completely unacceptable," he said.

"Lock the Gate would not be able to sponsor a police car - nor should it. Neither should a company.

"These companies are subject to the law, the police have to enforce the law without fear or favour and if they're being sponsored by a company or by individuals against whom they might have to enforce that law then that compromises them immediately."

Queensland Police Minister Jack Dempsey rejected the suggestion the State Government should fund the campaign instead.

"It's a part of a partnership right across the board and whether it be from NRMA to Rio Tinto to Suncorp to Rotary clubs, Lions clubs, CWA halls - everyone wants to be a part of police, fire and emergency services," he said.

"I say thank you for being able to contribute in a way that keeps your community safe and keeps Queenslanders safer on our roads."

Santos defended the sponsorship on Twitter after photos of the police cars and logos sparked some aggressive responses on social media.

The company tweeted that it was supporting outback communities and making driving safer.

Mr Stewart was not backing down either.

"I do understand the concerns the public have, particularly on social media I've noticed there's a lot of passion coming out and a lot of interesting claims," he said.

"But at the end of the day our books are open, our doors are open.

"It doesn't stop us doing our job that we have to do in terms of our core business, which is keeping Queensland safe.

"If people do the wrong thing we take action as we always will."