November 28, 2007

The phone started going off at noon.  While this day was indeed unique, the story I was told on the phone was all too familiar.  Last night, Palm Beach County Deputy Jonathan Wallace and Donta Manuel were killed early in the morning in a pursuit.  They had laid out tire deflation devices and used them on a stolen car.  As they were retrieving them, they were struck by another deputy who was pursuing the stolen car.  It reminded me of the death of two Tennessee Officers on July 9, 2003.  Both officers were killed while putting tire deflation devices out.  On September 12, 2005, Arkansas State Trooper Corporal Mark Carthron was struck and killed by another trooper as he attempted to retrieve stop sticks.

As the second and third phone call came, I was filled a lot of emotion.  I questioned why the same stuff kept killing my brothers and sisters in law enforcement.  I questioned what kind of training the officers may have had.  I questioned what kind of devices they may be using and I questioned why we keep pursuing suspects when the price can be unbearable.  All of those thoughts were unfair.  They are unfair to Deputy Wallace, Deputy Manuel, their families and the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Department.

Questions will be asked and as the calls came in from reporters around the country, I got the feeling that this issue was going to be explored in the days to come. Yes, questions need to be asked and answered and agencies must always ensure that our officers are given the safest environment possible to do their jobs.  When officers die those questions come quick; sometimes too quick.  I am not comfortable talking to reporters so close to the death of an officer but I generally do it.  The fact is that reporters are going to talk to someone and the last thing I want is for the family of that officer to endure even more pain from the media.  The possibility is always there and there are risks speaking to reporters because context cannot always be seen in the written word but on this day I made the decision to speak with them.

I want to show the utmost respect for these two heroes while at the same time try to explain to reporters that the job of an officer is not always easy to explain.  There aren't always exact answers on why a tragedy may occur. While the media wants to know why an officer would enter the roadway to retrieve tire deflation devices, maybe the question should be why a suspect would engage in a police pursuit?  None of these questions can be answered today and I only hope and pray that everyone takes a step back and waits for the facts to come out. One thing is certain.  The job of a law enforcement officer is risky and with risk can come extreme pain.  Please join with me and pray that God eases that pain for everyone affected.

Original Story:  2 Florida Deputies Killed By Cruiser In Pursuit

Sheriff: Deputies Made Fatal Mistake

Stop Sticks At Center Of Death Investigation

October 21, 2007

A Part of Doing Business:  Law Enforcement Today
 

I pull up the Officer Down Memorial Page almost every day.  I do it for a myriad of reasons and each time I do it, a flow of emotions goes through my head.  The primary reason I do it is to bring myself back to reality. 

As I go about my day I suffer from the same things that many of you suffer from.  I actually sometimes believe that my worries and concerns are actually a big deal.  I think it matters that this officer did this or that politician thinks that.  In the reality of things those worries and concerns mean nothing.  I may be getting a paycheck to deal with some of those issues but it is awful silly to spend energy on things that mean so little to officers as a whole.

The reality is this.  It is the same reality every week.  At least one officer dies in a traffic related incident and this week, two officers died.  On October 19th, Coahoma County (Mississippi) Deputy Jerry Hudgins died in a vehicle collision while responding to a traffic accident.  His car left the roadway and struck a tree.   On the same day, Stafford County (Virginia) Deputy Jason Mooney  died while responding to another collision.  His vehicle hydroplaned and left the roadway.  This 24 year old Marine Corp Veteran survived a tour during the War on Terror but died in a patrol car driving down the road.

Am I the only one that is mad that these heroes will no longer come home to their families because of a traffic collision?  Where is the outrage?  Where is the commitment to training?  It makes me angry and it makes me passionate.

Have these incidents become a part of doing business in our profession?  Are we giving our officers the training they need to do their jobs safely?  The protection of our officers must be the primary mission of our leaders in law enforcement today.

If you are reading this and you don't feel emotion or outrage then do your officers a favor and find another profession because these deaths are not a part of doing business.

If you are reading this and it makes you feel uncomfortable then good!  It means you care and it means you are going to do your part to reverse the senseless deaths of law enforcement officers. 

Update:  October 30, 2007

It's been a week since I woke up and read about two officer deaths and wrote the above comments.  It has been a bad week.  Three more officers lost their lives in traffic collisions.  The latest was
Chief Randy Wells from Kentucky.  You heard it right.  5 Officers dead in traffic collisions in 10 days.  Remember earlier in the year when the national press and administrators made a big deal that firearm deaths were on the rise?  Where is the outrage for this?  I am not diminishing other ways that officers die in the line of duty but how can anyone ignore the prevention aspect that is so blatantly obvious in vehicle related deaths.  Yes, not all of them are preventable but many of them are.

I am spending this week at the ALERT International Conference.  It is the organization for police driver trainers.  There are 108 registered attendees.  There should be 1008!  I have talked to countless instructors that had to spend their own money to be here.  Why are we not focusing on this issue? 

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department made a conscious decision several years ago to attack this issue and it has paid off.  The decision and the resources were not easy.  Three years ago a state of the art driving facility was built and thousands of dollars were spent on their risk management program and driver training program development.  In 2001, someone with Charlotte-Mecklenburg  took a risk.  They decided to invest in the safety of their officers.  From 2001 to 2006, collisions were reduced from 11.35 per million miles to 7.06 per million miles driven.  A practical pursuit and emergency training course was implemented in 2006 and the collisions were again reduced to 6.26 per million miles.

It's a novel concept isn't it?  Authorize resources before something bad happens to make your officers safe.  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has saved over million dollars and countless injuries and possibly deaths since they implemented their driver training program in 2001.  It makes so much sense, it should make you mad.  We drive cars every day and vehicle related incidents are killing and injuring officers at a higher rate than anything else.  Why do we have to continue justifying training?  The State of Minnesota has mandated four hours of driver training for every officer every 3 years.  We think that is great but why?  Why doesn't every state require that much and more EVERY YEAR?

None of this makes sense to me.  I don't understand why thousands of Police Chiefs go to the IACP Conference but fail to send someone to the ALERT Conference which is dealing with the number 1 killer of law enforcement officers today?  We should all think about these issues and make sure that we are each doing what we can to turn away this troubling epidemic.  Even if it is passing out an article to your fellow officers, there is something we can all do.  If our leaders won't do it, we have to!

Additional Links:

Officer Deaths Are Not A Part Of Doing Business

Membership Has It's Benefits:  ALERT International

February 27, 2005

As 2005 began, I was pleased to see the attention to the importance of Driver Training being given to the nation by national figure heads.  We here at The Police Driving Web Site has always stressed the importance of driver training.  We have always felt the frustration of agencies that ignore this important issue.  On January 5, 2005, Mr. Craig Floyd of the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund sent a press release out detailing the dangers of law enforcement driving and asked that all agencies increase the training.  While it was sad that officer deaths brought this to the forefront, I knew that this would increase the focus of driver training.  As I suspected, I was contacted by several news outlets as they followed up on the story.  What Mr. Floyd did was important.  It wasn't just crazy me preaching this anymore.  It was a well respected national figure head.
Then I read the February 24, 2005, article from the Henry Herald......"Georgia County Police Not Sending Officers to Defensive Driving Classes; 2 Officer Deaths in 9 Months"

I don't think an agency should wait for officer deaths to address training.  But if an officer death occurs, how could you not address it?  After two officer deaths in 9 months, here is what Chief Russell Abernathy had to say  "We're not having a problem in this department with defensive driving," Abernathy said, adding it would be "virtually impossible" to send his whole police department to a defensive driving training course."
That shouldn't be taken as if the Chief doesn't care.  He went on to say that the officer can just go "volunteer" for training if they need it.  I wonder if they need it?  Prior to the mid-90's, Georgia cadets were required to attend a 2 hour lecture on driving....No driving involved.  But hey, in 2005 things have improved.  New cadets get 16 hours of driving and nothing mandatory the rest of their careers.
 

I'm not just picking on Chief Abernathy.  His attitude is prevalent in so many police administrators.  Driver Training just doesn't have the importance in their minds as other training.  I'm going to let the Director of the National Law Enforcement Memorial (Craig Floyd) complete my comments:

"Consider, for example, that while shooting deaths have declined by 36 percent over the past three decades, the number of officers killed in automobile accidents during that same period has risen by 40 percent. Between 1975 and 1984, there were 339 officers killed in auto accidents, compared to 476 who died behind the wheel in the most recent 10-year period (1995-2004).

Better driver training for law enforcement personnel is an essential component to stemming this dangerous trend. A study several years ago showed that some law enforcement agencies were providing no high speed driver training for their officers, while still others were providing only a bare minimum. Policies governing high speed pursuits have received careful scrutiny in recent years and further reflection is necessary to determine when it is appropriate for officers to chase after fleeing automobiles, and what less dangerous options might exist."

December 12, 2004

As I read the latest headlines, something jumps out at me.  I read where a coward running from the police in Kansas City killed a bicyclist, Tony Sena.  He admits to it in court.  Another coward is convicted of killing West Memphis Police Officer Michael Waters.  What is the punishment for killing a bicyclist and a 24 year old police officer?  How about second degree murder?  That's right, that's the price on the lives of citizens and police officers killed in police pursuits.  Why is it that when a criminal runs from the police, the intent of great bodily harm or death is not absolutely solid?  Is it really any different than robbing someone and somehow the victim dies, even though the criminal did not mean it to happen.  Let me tell you what that is called....FIRST DEGREE MURDER.  We as a society have to take the issue of Police Pursuits more serious.  These cowards that are killing people in pursuits will barely see jail time.  The papers and courts will tell you that they will serve 10-35 years.  Well, lets take that in dog years.....5-10 years is more realistic.  Opinion polls tell us that the majority of citizens want the police to pursue and apprehend criminals.  The problem is, they only think that deaths from that rise to the ultimate murder charge.  The outcome is the same whether your loved one is killed in a pursuit or a robbery.  How would these judges, prosecutors and juries feel if their spouse or child was killed in a police pursuit?  Maybe they wouldn't think Second Degree Murder would be applicable?

June 21, 2004

Many of you have heard that three Birmingham Police Officers were slain June 17th by a drug dealing coward.  Obviously the tragedy is on everyone's minds in Birmingham and the surrounding area.  The suspect in this crime was African American.  Residents and the media have been quick to say that this was not a hate crime.  One officer stated: "It's a coincidence that they were all white," she said. "Race had nothing to do with it."  This murdering thug is given that presumption.  It's too bad our fellow officers are not given the same rights.

Officer Owens used to sit in his patrol car across from the drug dealers house.  He wanted to disrupt this illegal and violent business.  Some media accounts called him "intimidating".  I call him a hero but then again I'm not a reporter.

Where is the ACLU and NAACP following this tragedy?  I'm not sure and the entire incident is horrible.  Not only have three good officers been slain but we are once again reminded that we as police are held to a double standard.  The next time one officer is alleged to violate someone's rights and it makes every news channel in America, ask yourself why didn't that channel report this tragedy?  My local newspaper printed this story on Page 8.  I wonder if the story would have made the front page if it would have been a citizen complaining on an officer?

April 28, 2004

Kristie's Law:  Some of you may have been keeping up with the status of Kristie's Law in California.  I will not go into great detail here but the details of the legislation and the progress of the law has been fully documented on this site.  Simply go to the news or article section to read about this bill.  Something very interesting has been happening to me in the last couple of weeks.  I have received a few e-mails from California Officers telling me that they are not pleased with this bill and they are somehow laying some of the blame on myself.  As I responded to them and will reiterate here.  I have never formally endorsed Kristie's Law.  I have placed information about it in this site as I do about many things.  It is not my job on this site to tell you how I feel.  I want to make you think.  Have I associated myself with the Priano Family?  You better believe it and proud of it. I consider the Priano Family some of the most courageous individuals I know.  I see tragedy on a weekly basis (as many of you do) and it is rare those affected turn that into a focused mission. Regardless of your opinions on Kristie's Law, you have to honor Kristie Priano and what her family is standing up for.   Does that mean I favor every element of Kristie's Law.  Absolutely not; I have issues and concerns with some elements of it.  I don't normally give advice or opinions on this site but I believe I will take the opportunity to give some here.  In particular to the officers that have e-mailed me and labeled myself as a "troublemaker." 

Stop focusing on me and what you don't like about the law or our profession.  Stand up for solutions and place your energy  towards that.  Has any officer in California petitioned their legislator for a bill that would ensure sound policy and additional pursuit training?  Has any officer countered Kristie's Bill with one of their own?  You can either set back and moan or you could work towards change that you would be in more agreement with.  If you give the legislators one option, they just might take it.  Give them one that you can stand behind in force that will make your job safer as well as the citizens.  There isn't a State out there that couldn't improve on Law Enforcement Driving Safety, California included.  And one other thing...Your e-mails will never force me away from the victim advocates such as Candy Priano or Jim Phillips.  They are who we work for.  I don't agree with everything they say but I realize that cops don't always have the answers.  We are all in this together and if we would focus like Jim, Candy & Mark have, can you imagine what we could accomplish?

March 31, 2004

The Jim Phillips Story:  I met Jim Phillips a year ago while conducting research on this site.  I ran across his website, Pursuit Watch.  After doing a Google search I saw an ad that said "Hot Pursuit and how it can go horribly wrong."  I'm thinking what is this junk.  Another cop hater, just what I need.  Fortunately for me, I looked at the site and stumbled on a number of goals that Jim had.  Strangely enough they looked much like mine:  Mandatory training, strict laws for eluding suspects, adequate policies, etc.  I sent Jim an e-mail telling him of our similar goals and how his site turned out to be nothing like I originally imagined.  Since that late night and numerous e-mails later, I consider Jim Phillips my friend.  My friend does not have a law enforcement background.  He did not ask to be an advocate for safer pursuits. Police Pursuits were the farthest thing from his mind.  On December 13, 2001, Jim's daughter Sarah died from the result of a Police Pursuit.  Sarah had done nothing wrong.  Her death was another reminder to Law Enforcement of how "Hot Pursuits can go horribly wrong."  It's something that officers do not want to think about.  To an officer close to something like this, it is a nightmare.  To a parent, it is devastating beyond anything I could ever imagine. 
You see, my friend Jim was forced to know how pursuits can go "horribly wrong."  How are you as  a law enforcement officer going to think about a pursuit before it happens?  Will you know how it could go wrong?  Will you know when to pursue or when to stop?  Will you know how to control your emotions?  I ask you to think about these issues.  It is our job to do so; It is our obligation to the public.  After all, Jim Phillips didn't ask to be an advocate for safer pursuits.  We as officers did and must remain vigilant to ensure that no one else has to endure the pain that my friend does.
Read more about Jim Phillips
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March 27, 2004

In May, 2000, I attended the National Police Memorial Service In Washington D.C.  In addition, I participated in the Fraternal Order Of Police Wreath Ceremony at the United States Capital.  Being present with hundreds of family members from slain police officers was the most humbling experiences of my life.  I returned to my agency with a renewed sense of understanding.  I was not the same officer.  I encourage every Police Officer reading this to one day experience this.  For the many of police officers, it is a one day drive.  Is that not the least we can do?
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