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.

1. And I’d be willing to bet that Mr. Dentist hasn’t had to back out of hundreds of different driveways, intersections, parking lots, exit ramps, improved shoulders, ditches, lanes of traffic - often under adverse weather and lighting conditions - and frequently under high stress, while trying to pursue criminals, rapidly respond to calls, transport unruly prisoners, or warn oncoming traffic… while at the same time operating two-way radios, lights & sirens, mobile computer terminals, radar units, and cameras. Perhaps his backing out of the identical driveway, day after day, to peacefully drive to work and park is just a bit less complicated.

   Hey, maybe I can critique his crown-building technique, too. But then, I doubt he’s ever made an error in his chosen profession.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 09, 2009 at 2312 hrs




2. WHAT?!? Cops are just as fallible as anyone else?  Huh.  You wouldn’t know it from their attitudes.

   Posted by Mike Gallo on February 10, 2009 at 0037 hrs




3. Dave… 

   Your average housewife deals with as many distractions.

   I know you boxed it all up in a nice paragraph, but none of those things all happen at once.

   If a leo is operating a radar unit, camera, or MDT while backing up they need to be re-trained. 

   I’ll be the first to accept the fact that no one is perfect.  But to start to make excuses for the police when we all know DAMN well the police don’t give a shit about any excuse that your average citizen might have when they are caught speeding, unsafe backing, whatever…  No double standards for me… Sorry.  No more excuses.

   I thought it was funny how this year law enforcement agencies seemed to be (from news reports) writing many many more citations for citizens who slid of the road in inclement weather.  Seemed to me sliding off the road and getting stuck was enough of a deterent, but hey, I guess revenue generation has no holiday.

   Then I was driving back from Devils Head in an ice storm and a state trooper was buried backwards and trunk-deep in the median on I-39.  I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to write HIMSELF a ticket for driving too fast for conditions.  I highly doubt it.  Hypocrites..  Almost all of them!

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 10, 2009 at 1036 hrs




4. xxpilot - of course they don’t all happen at once. But they do all happen.

   And in case I came off as implying that cops don’t make mistakes, I thought my last line read differently. They do. These guys probably did. I don’t know the specifics, but clearly they aren’t supposed to be backing into things. Sometimes things aren’t the officer’s fault, but odds are that most of these collisions were probably avoidable.

   My only gripe was with the dentist comparing his skill at backing out of his driveway with the skills demanded in law enforcement driving. I know a good bit about this and the two are very, very different.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 10, 2009 at 1158 hrs




5. I have backed up a Squad and I can tell you its not easy. It takes practice and you need to know the space the car takes up and how it turns and so forth. Its also part of training however a lot of the training is done in Crown Vics and a lot of Depts are now moving to Chargers and Chevy Impalas and the officers aren’t retrained.

   I was working when we changed from Chevy Caprices to the Vics and it was a PITA to relearn something I drove for years. All the blind spots changed and the car was a different size. One day I was driving the Chevy, the next day I had a Ford. (don’t get me started…)

   Hypocrites..  Almost all of them!

   Thanks for qualifying that. Sometimes we aren’t given a choice there are reasons why the State PD or the Sheriff will say stay off the roads, remember you are putting us in danger when we have to respond to a slide off incident, its not always about revenue.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 10, 2009 at 1516 hrs