By Tony Plohetski
Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN — Starting next week, police officers may be navigating the streets of Austin more often with their sirens wailing and lights flashing.
Police are putting a new policy in place Wednesday under which officers will be expected to respond to more than a dozen types of calls with the utmost urgency, a move officials say will reduce response times and make the public more aware that officers are en route to life-or-death situations.
Officials have begun calling those types of emergencies “hotshots” for the type of response they say is needed.
Such calls, which include suicide attempts, robberies in progress and bomb threats, have traditionally been classified only as high priority. Officers have decided based on information from dispatchers whether to respond in a “Code 3" mode, which allows them to drive at speeds greater than the posted limit and go through traffic signals after making sure an intersection is clear.
“There is a greater awareness of the police presence, and that makes everybody safer,” said Assistant Police Chief and Chief of Staff David Carter, referring to the Code 3 responses. “The officers still have to exercise due caution, due regard.”
Carter said officers receive extensive training in how to drive patrol cars and that they will be permitted to respond below Code 3 mode if certain conditions make it particularly unsafe.
Police officials said they think that in some cases, officers may have been reluctant to respond to certain calls with their lights and sirens out of fear they could cause an accident.
George Vanderhule, president of the Austin Police Association, which represents nearly all of the department’s 1,500 officers, said he is concerned about the new policy.
“When citizens hear sirens, they sometimes yield; they sometimes panic,” he said. “We as the association are going to watch this very closely to make sure this doesn’t unduly put officers in danger.”
Officials urge motorists to pull to the right when they see a police car approaching, which is required by state law.
According to the policy, only officers assigned to a call, their backup and supervisors may operate with lights and siren. They must turn them off if a call is no longer deemed an emergency before they arrive.
As part of the changes, 911 call-takers also will decide more quickly if a call should be a considered a “hotshot.” Officials said that in the past, the call-takers may have collected more information before dispatching a call, which could have taken several more seconds or up to a minute.
Department officials do not have specific goals for reducing response times. William Gaut, a police consultant and former captain with the Birmingham Police Department in Alabama, said most departments have policies that require officers to urgently respond to certain calls.
Gaut said Austin police officials may have to continuously evaluate whether certain types of calls they consider “hotshots” involve life-threatening situations. For instance, he said a suspected drunk driver in clogged traffic may not merit the risk of a Code 3 response.
“Each department defines what a life-threatening situation is,” he said.
Jean Mather, president of the South River City Citizens neighborhood association, said she hadn’t heard about the change but didn’t think it sounded like a good idea. The association represents the area between Lady Bird Lake, Ben White Boulevard, Interstate 35 and South Congress Avenue.
However, Mather said, there should be restrictions on when the sirens and lights are used, suggesting 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. as an acceptable window.
Copyright 2008 The Austin American-Statesman