Baltimore City police are assessing the department?s driver-safety measures this week following a preliminary report that an officer sped through a stop sign right before the car crash nearly two weeks ago that killed another officer.
“More than disappointed, I?m saddened by the tragedy,” Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm said of the report. Officials are looking to police in Philadelphia and other areas to learn how they ensure officers travel safely on city streets, Hamm and a spokesman said.
“Every once in a while you take stock to make sure that what you?re doing is the right thing,” spokesman Matt Jablow said.
Most of the driver training in the department now occurs at the cadet level, he said, unless an officer is in a series of crashes.
The same is true in Baltimore County, where recruits get 96 hours of training in classrooms and on closed courses before graduating from the Police Academy, a spokeswoman there said.
Officer Raymond Cook was responding to a call at about 2:40 a.m. on May 19, when he sped through a stop sign and his police car slammed into the passenger side of Officer Anthony Byrd?s car, according to the report. Byrd was pronounced dead at St. Agnes Hospital. Cook was treated at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and released later that day.
Police car crashes have decreased 26 percent in Philadelphia since 1998, an official there said, at least in part with the introduction of a proactive driver-safety program. Philadelphia Police Officer Lt. Robin Hill said he heard this week from a Baltimore police official inquiring about the program.
“When we are out there responding to an emergency, it is a balance between urgency and safety,” Hill said. “You can?t help if you don?t get there.”
Baltimore police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe confirmed that an officer could be dismissed for not stopping at a stop sign or traffic light, even with flashing lights as required. But she added, “The investigation has not yet come to a conclusion and it is too early to say what type of punishment would be given.”
Accidents deemed preventable ? where the officer was at fault ? are down so far this year in Baltimore?s department, police said. There have been 98 such crashes so far this year, down from 110 at this point in 2005 and 116 in 2004.
But that hasn?t lessened the tragedy of the department?s most recent fatal accident ? particularly for Cook, who was “torn up” after the accident and is on medical leave recovering from injuries, Hamm said.
