Every year there are hundreds of collisions involving police cruisers in suburban Maryland — often involving serious injuries and sometimes death — but experts say there is still far too little focus on officer training.
In 2006, the most recent data available, officers on Montgomery County’s 1,500-member force were involved in 337 car accidents in police vehicles. A total of 130 of them were determined to be preventable. In 2007, Prince George’s 1,200-member force has been in 281 police vehicle accidents; 112 of them were determined to be preventable.
And in a profession known for drug busts and shootouts, traffic accidents cause more than half of all officer fatalities: 78 in 2007, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Civilians are at risk, too. Most recently, an off-duty Prince George’s officer driving a marked police cruiser collided with Brian Gray’s car, killing the 20-year-old University of Maryland student. An investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing. And on Sunday, two D.C. officers were seriously injured when they crashed into a van while responding to a call.
In both Maryland departments, driver training is an expressed priority of high-level officers. Montgomery County recently began requiring its officers to update their skills yearly, and remediation is required for officers involved in two crashes in one year. Prince George’s requires remedial training for any officer involved in a preventable accident.
“It is a no-brainer. We’re mandated to train for shoot-shoot-shoot,” said Officer Luis Carvajal, Montgomery County police’s driving instructor. “But do you shoot to calls or do you drive to calls?”
While Carvajal trains officers on a high-speed course and will soon start working out of a new training facility complete with two simulators that cost the county $187,000, Prince George’s officers currently train in the FedEx Field parking lot. Sometimes, they receive no behind-the-wheel training, according to Percy Alston, president of the Prince George’s chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
“If we had a driving course with skid pads and were able to practice high-speed pursuits, if we had more courses set up where officers could practice and train, that would be the greatest improvement,” Alston said.
In recent years, the Prince George’s department has put the bulk of its resources toward officer recruitment, a priority Alston and the union have supported.
Vernon Herron, director of public safety for Prince George’s County, shares Alston’s concerns about training. To address the shortcoming, the county has allotted more than $2 million, he said, to begin the planning process for what he hopes by 2012 will be the best public safety training facility on the East Coast, including a driving course.
Md. police wrecks
» Montgomery County 2006: 337 (130 preventable)
» Prince George’s County 2007: 281 (112 preventable)
