IACP State and Provincial Police Division ‐ Colonel Tracy Trott, Retired Tennessee Highway Patrol and Past Chair, spoke of effective methods in his tenure which resulted in more DUI arrests and tremendous success by all measures. These methods included 1) Establish DUI enforcement as a priority, 2) DUI Enforcement as a vital influence in career building, 3) Create competitive atmosphere for recognition in DUI enforcement, and 4) Increased training and equipment. Review of MADD’s Child Endangerment Expert Panel Report ‐ Ron Replogle reviewed the results from MADD’s Child Endangerment Expert Panel, a recent cooperative agreement project with NHTSA, which resulted in a published report with key updated recommendations. Leadership Panels and Successful Programs, Municipal Agencies, Sheriff Departments, State Police Agencies – Law Enforcement leadership present at the Summit shared best practices, successful programs, and proven strategies to enhance traffic enforcement. Each of these panels are detailed below. Chiefs Panel Deputy Chief Andy Hall, Fresno Police Department, California, reminded Summit attendees that you must train officers that they are saving lives through traffic safety. If the Chief believes it, the troops will believe it. He shared his program built on the premise that law abiding citizens should not have to pay for traffic enforcement, in which they implement an Abuser Tax to charge violators, so violators are essentially paying for their own enforcement. If an offender is caught drunk driving without a license or on a suspended license, their car is impounded and released only for a fee (plus the tow fee). If it’s a DUI, the price goes up. This money goes back into traffic enforcement and traffic education. As a result, his agency went from 22 officers to 42 officers in three months. As well, after a spike in crime in 2003, traffic units were deployed in high gang related crime areas, and then a neighborhood traffic unit was established. These activities, coupled with Bar Watches and Checkpoints, have resulted in a drastic reduction in criminal activity. Chief Hall summarized that traffic safety affects crime; effective traffic enforcement is a crime catching unit. You do not have to give up one to gain the other. Chief Danny Sharp, Oro Valley Police Department, Arizona, also correlated community safety to traffic safety. It begins with educating elected officials and the community on the importance of traffic safety as a component to community policing. His targeted enforcement programs have included High‐Visibility Enforcement (HiVE), in which he educated city council, the public, the media, and his police officers that they’re trying to reduce crashes; he asked officers to cite everything they see in those high risk areas. As a result of their training, awareness, high visibility, transparency, and outreach, they saw a 27% reduction in traffic crashes over the next three years. Chief Sharp emphasized the importance of explaining the “why” to all involved, especially to young officers. Chief Jimmy Perdue, North Richland Hills Police Department, Texas, represented IACP Mid‐Sized Agencies Division (with 50‐999 officers) at the Summit. Due to the ability of some mid‐sized agencies to accomplish things very quickly, with less bureaucracy, they can have an impact on the direction of law enforcement agencies around the world. Chief Perdue highlighted their No Refusal weekends, funded through a county grant, in which they opted to be one of the central locations for the blood draws and magistrations for more efficiency and engagement.
5
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker