Feature articles in this issue address training that encourages law enforcement officers to wear high-visibility gear, tips for law enforcement officers on safe driving to call destinations, a call for cultural change that provides a new emphasis on law enforcement driver training, and a resource sampler on officer traffic safety.
"Training Encouraging Law Enforcement Officers To Wear High-Vsibility Gear" promotes a new, free, 1-hour training module that uses a combination of resource materials with dash cam and news footage to encourage law enforcement officers to improve their personal safety by wearing their high-visibility gear when involved in traffic law enforcement. The training is available at ResponderSafety.com. "Getting to the Call Safely: Tips for Law Enforcement Drivers" discusses the importance of training law enforcement officers to drive safely when responding to emergency calls, given that law enforcement officers are involved in three times the number of accidents per million miles as the general public. Driver training for Michigan law enforcement officers is presented as a model for other law enforcement agencies. Recruits are given a 1-week precision driving course. They must pass every exercise in this course in order to graduate from the academy. If recruits fail an exercise, they are given 1 hour of remedial training. If they still fail the exercise, they are dismissed from the academy. The training focuses on teaching officers the basics of performance driving that will prepare them to arrive at their calls safely. "New Emphasis on Driver Training Needed: A Call for Cultural Change" notes that with almost half of line-of-duty officer deaths occurring in traffic accidents, there must be a cultural change throughout the Nation to make driver training as important as firearms qualification in protecting officers from threats to their safety.