Related article: Police equipment puts emergency response on wheels
By John P. Askew
Omaha World-Herald
OMAHA, Neb. — A metro-area investigation team was given a vehicle Thursday to use in reconstructing major accidents and incidents.
FireGuard, a local business specializing in equipping fire and law enforcement agencies, donated the emergency vehicle.
The Fatal Incident Reconstruction and Support Team was formed Jan. 1 through a $47,000 grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety and represents a coalition among area law enforcement agencies.
Law enforcement officials spoke about the vehicle at a morning press conference attended by such groups as Metro Area Transit, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and AAA Nebraska.
The FIRST team includes officers from Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, Washington and Dodge Counties and the Nebraska State Patrol.
The team was formed because the cost of training and technology was too high for any one agency, said Lt. Russ Zeeb of the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.
The team -- one of three in the nation -- already has reconstructed major road accidents. Some of the officers training for the team assisted with Dec. 5 Von Maur shooting investigation.
This will be the first vehicle for the team, Zeeb said.
The vehicle would allow the team to have equipment in a central location and the flexibility for it to be moved, he said.
Accuracy and speed in reconstructing incidents not only will provide a professional product for a trial but also save lives.
Jim McGee, highway program administrator for the Nebraska Roads Department, said 18 percent of officer fatalities are a result of secondary accidents. Cutting the amount of time spent investigating an accident can reduce those fatalities, he said.
“Let’s say you have an accident on 100th and I-80 and traffic is held back for an hour; that traffic could spill over into other jurisdictions,” he said.
Collaboration could cut the time it takes to investigate, getting vehicles off the road sooner and increasing safety. Traffic delays also will be reduced.
With the number of cars in the metro area, cutting an investigation by an hour or two could make a difference, McGee said.
Copyright 2008 The Omaha World-Herald Company