Outagamie Deputies Having Trouble In Reverse

Lesson?  Be careful around the rear side of squad cars.

Since October 2007, according to a report prepared for the county’s Finance Committee, deputies have hit several parked cars, a flatbed trailer, a basketball hoop’s stand, knocked over a parked motorcycle and rear-ended another jurisdiction’s squad car. Altogether, damage from fender benders cost the county, which is self-insured, about $12,500.

Supv. Dick Gosse wonders how people trained in the high-speed chase can’t avoid hitting stationary objects at a snail’s pace.

“I’d be willing to bet none of us have ever backed out of our driveways and hit a parked car,” said Gosse, a dentist, looking at the civilians around him, including an accountant, a small-business owner and a retired postal worker.

To which Sheriff Brad Gehring essentially replied: Try it in a squad car.

The department has traded out its old Ford Crown Victorias for less spacious Chevy Luminas. Crowding metal cages and other equipment into that smaller space makes navigation difficult, Gehring said.