After a string of police-involved accidents were reported in Casa Grande, Arizona, the city police chief ordered all of his officers to take extra driving safety courses.
According to Chief Mark McCrory, a total of nine police vehicles have been damaged from minor accidents since April 5. Each collision will cost taxpayers a $1,000 deducible to the insurance company.
The number of accident reports caught Chief McCrory’s attention after he compared them to the six total reports that were filed throughout all of 2016.
“We are tasked with enforcing traffic laws. We are tasked with traffic safety presentations, and the sheer number of preventable accidents or collisions that we’ve had, personally, I find embarrassing,” McCrory said.
McCrory’s main concern stems from the timing of such accidents involving his department. The Casa Grande City Council recently signed off on a plan that would allow the police department to launch a police vehicle take-home program for officers.
“Part of that program is to extend the life of a police car and to take better care of a police car, and then when we hit this rash of damaged vehicles, to me that’s embarrassing,” McCrory added.
According to members of the police department, two of the nine damaged patrol cars were part of the recently initiated take-home vehicle program.
McCrory continued on by expressing that he does not believe his officers are bad drivers, but he thinks they could benefit from taking a refresher course, which are designed to help prevent such accidents from occurring.
“We test with our firearms very regularly, in some cases weekly, and I think it’s just time we do the same thing with our vehicles,” he said.
The driving safety courses, which Chief McCrory has ordered 80 sworn officers to take, will include in-house training on accident avoidance. Additionally, the officers will be required to take an online driver safety course designed specifically for law enforcement officials.
According to Chief McCrory, the goals of the training are to help improve officer safety and to demonstrate the Casa Grande police department‘s commitment to the responsible handling of taxpayer-funded equipment, such as patrol cars.
Luckily, there haven’t been any injuries reported in any of the incidents that involved the patrol units.
“I would much rather be having this conversation with you now, with what truly amounts to fender benders, than to sit here talking to you about one of our officers being killed in a vehicle collision,” McCrory said. “That’s what we’re stressing to our officers: this is just preventative.”
All previously damaged vehicles, except one water-damaged car and one patrol unit that hit a pole, are already back in service according to reports.
“We’re proactive in our fight against crime, so why not be proactive in keeping ourselves safe?” asked McCrory.