By Andrea Marie Kampwerth, The Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Ill.)
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A police officer’s sworn duty to “serve and protect” sometimes means letting the bad guy get away when it comes to car pursuits.
Investigation continues into a fatal traffic accident involving a Sparta police officer and a civilian Aug. 11. The civilian, Janet R. Cole, 58, of Baldwin, was killed in the crash that occurred when newly hired police officer Starr McPherson attempted to assist a Randolph County deputy who was involved in a pursuit. At issue in the incident is not only whether or not McPherson is at fault in the accident or was driving too fast, but also she had not been fully trained to be a police officer. She had been hired by the department “about a month” earlier, and had not been through Police Training Institute classes when the accident happened.
McPherson was alone on patrol when the crash happened. Sparta Mayor Randy Bertetto said earlier that the department planned to get McPherson trained and hoped for her to graduate within six months of beginning active duty, as required by Illinois law. On the day of the accident McPherson had yet to begin course work at a PTI.
Illinois Department of Transportation statistics show police vehicles are involved in more than 3,000 traffic accidents each year, though many of them are not serious. Matthew Vanover, IDOT spokesman, said such traffic crashes are reported to IDOT by law. The numbers pertaining to police vehicles, he said, include every kind of crash -- from one during a pursuit to someone driving into a parked and empty police squad car.
The statistics also show fatalities from such accidents has hovered around eight a year during the last four years. The fatalities include police officers and civilians.
Most police department have written pursuit policies that govern under what circumstances officers may engage in a fast pursuit. Typically, the standards are based on safety. Other factors -- the size of the police department, the geography of the jurisdiction, the relative training level of the officers and the willingness of the governing body of the agency to assume liability -- all factor in as well.
The Carbondale Police Department -- the largest municipal department in Southern Illinois -- has a very specific written policy, said police Chief Steve Odum. The department’s policy conforms to accreditation standards. Carbondale is one of 49 municipalities accredited in Illinois and the only one in Southern Illinois.
A random survey of several smaller police departments in the area reveals that most of them also have written policies that favor safety over speed. Most of those also pair a newly hired officer, even after training, with a field training officer at least until the training officer says the rookie is ready to go on patrol alone.
Pursuit policies
Odum said Carbondale police officers do not pursue if doing so would create more of a danger than letting the suspect go. The policy echoes the state police policy of pursuing only those suspected of committing a forcible felony.
"(Our policy) is pretty restrictive,” Odum said. “Our guys are pretty conservative about pursuit and are really good about breaking it off. They don’t ridicule each other about breaking off a pursuit -- that’s just something we do. That takes discipline within the department.”
Carbondale, like some other area departments, has devices called stop sticks, which are engineered to punch a hole in a tire and let the air out slowly enough to prevent a blowout. The Saline County Sheriff’s Department uses a net of stop sticks that quickly can be unfurled over a roadway and quickly yanked back. Carbondale uses a different variety that Odum said is cheaper to replace, though not as easy to remove quickly.
“The primary reason (for using stop sticks) is that they are a safer alternative (for stopping a vehicle that is being pursued) than trying to chase a car with another speeding car,” he said. Use of speed sticks, though, requires the department to be certain that the vehicle is deliberately eluding police and to be able to anticipate where it is going in order to get in front of it.
Eluding a police officer is a Class A misdemeanor. Odum said a driver of a vehicle is considered to be “eluding” if he or she does anything that seems designed to lose the police officer once the squad car’s lights go on.
Emergency responses
Pursuits, however, are not the only times police officers are called upon to drive fast. Emergencies can require immediate response and officers don’t have the option of breaking off from those calls.
Odum said speed is relative when it comes to different police agencies. He said state police, who often patrol highways and interstates where the speed limit can be 65 mph, might consider “high speed” considerably differently than police in a city, where speed limits may average 30 mph.
“Officers are cautioned that, even when running lights and sirens, (there are dangers from other drivers not yielding). They won’t do anybody any good if they don’t make it (to the scene),” Odum said.
Herrin Police Chief Mark Brown used nearly the same wording when discussing his department’s policies. He said, “We try to reiterate to the officers that if they don’t get there, they won’t help anyone.”
Brown said his department, with 17 full-time officers, will not put an officer on the street without complete training. The most recently hired full-time officer has an effective hire date that coincides with the first day of his police academy enrollment. When he graduates, Brown said, he will be paired with a field training officer until that officer decides the new hire is ready for solo patrol. Typically, Brown said, that takes about three months.
Brown said that, even though the Herrin department is currently short one officer, no training means no patrol. The department fills in with part-time officers, all of whom are fully certified and frequently affiliated with other police departments.
“We can’t use (an uncertified officer) effectively anyway,” he said. “We aren’t going to put someone out who is not certified.”
Day-to-day work
Brown said his officers may drive as much as 100 miles in a day’s work, depending on the number of calls they receive.
“When you’ve got squad cars out on the road 24-7, eventually you’ll have an accident,” he said.
Odum said accidents involving police vehicles, particularly fatal accidents like the one in Randolph County, are naturally of high interest for law enforcement officers as well as for civilians. However, he said, day-to-day police work involves miles of road work with accidents coming only infrequently.
“What you don’t see is how many hours and miles (officers) spend on the job without an accident,” he said. “The (squad car) is their office -- that’s where they work.”
Odum said it is important for police officers to be extra-alert to their surroundings and to drive defensively. And that, he said, can take experience.
“A more experienced police officer is used to anticipating things further out ,” he said. “An inexperienced police officer should slow down, even when responding to a priority one call.”