Have you or someone you know suffered career ending injuries or death from colliding with computers, consoles, weapons, roll bar cages and associated hardware? Would a side impact air bag have reduced injury severity or saved a life?

We constantly hear the testimonials of the values of ballistic vests, so why are we ignoring the values of common sense? We have officers commuting to and from work in the safest cars their money can buy, while working in one of the most dangerous work environments in America… a police cruiser!

As a parent of young children, I'm well aware of the dilemma toy manufacturers face in getting their product from factory to the user child. Have you ever experienced the overkill of flex cuff like fasteners, wire ties, tape, etc that ensure the product arrives undamaged?

As I look at today’s cruisers, I'm instantly aware of the similar mindset in ensuring that a Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) or Laptop survives any challenge. A quick look at the above image is revealing. Look at the puncturing bolts and sharp edges and corners and rigid columns. This stuff is packaged to survive the trip just like that well secured toy. To dispel the image of this frequently observed problem being caused by improper installation we can look to the Motorola Mobile Workstation 800 Mounting Solutions BROUCHURE of equipment images with rigid pole and exposed bolt ends.

To make matters worse, many police agencies are said to be disabling the passenger side airbags to presumably prevent officers injuries from having all of this technology thrust into them in a collision. Computers are being protected at the expense of police officer lives and safety.

As an specialist in accident reconstruction and analysis, I have knowledge of the dynamics of motor vehicle accidents and the interaction between occupants and vehicle components. Although I no longer investigate accidents, I'm still a card carrying member of several reconstruction and forensics organizations. Based upon my experience, I find it unreasonable that officers are being put in unnecessary danger to protect technology.

I grew up in the era of the highway safety evolution. The early cars I drove had hard unrelenting interiors. Steering columns, wheels, knobs and other features didn't bend much or yield in a collision. All of that changed, or did it? Collapsing steering wheels, air bags, and other technologies increased occupants chance of survival and reduced the scope and severity of injuries. Dummies were sacrificed instead of people to create a safe interior environment. The evolution succeeded to such a degree that today the dummies are sacrificed to test repair costs and bumpers.

Are cops, engineers, reconstructionists, government agencies and officials, and medical experts allowing cops to be sacrificed in the name of boosting law enforcement technology? Why aren’t cops demanding safe work environments when traffic accidents are a leading cause of death and career ending injuries?

Has there been any collision testing with this common equipment setup in three frequently occurring types
of police collisions - offset frontal and a side impact test with vehicles and fixed objects such as poles and trees. Why does OSHA investigate hand and finger injuries in the workplace, while ignoring police injuries and deaths?

Recent side impact crash testing of the 2008 Ford Crown Victoria and the 2008 DODGE Charger 300 in their family car configuration rated the Crown Vic as marginal and the Charger as poor. The 2008 Chevrolet Impala was rated as good. This underscores the need to be uncompromising in choosing and installing each and every component of law enforcement technology into a law enforcement vehicle.

It is time to start answering these and other questions. Among other areas of concern is the development of anti-submarining technology in seat design and the proper alignment of seat belts for gun belt wearing officers. It is time to demand that the interiors of law enforcement vehicles provide officers with safe police duty vehicles rather than converted passenger cars.

I’d like to ask you to join the American Police Veterans in asking Congress to investigate the deaths and injuries of America’s law enforcement officers and agents, while operating police vehicles. To that end, I’d like you to sign on to a petition demanding:

- that all newly purchased police vehicles be equipped with side impact air bags by the 2010 model year,

- that disabling an airbag in a police vehicle result in the forfeiture of all federal highway safety funds to the parent political subdivision for the following fiscal year, and

- that the National Highway Safety Administration investigate all police crashes involving a death or injury to an occupant law enforcement officer.

Sgt. George Brown, a line of duty disabled police veteran of the Plainville Massachusetts Police Department, is the founder of American Police Veterans www.policevets.org. Sgt. Brown has been recognized as an expert in accident causation and analysis in the Massachusetts Trials Courts. He is a member of the Society of Accident Reconstrunctionists (SOAR), the International Association of Accident Reconstruction Specialists (IAARS), a Fellow in the American College of Forensic Examiners (ACFEi) and a Diplomat on the American Board of Law Enforcement Experts (DABLEE). Brown has a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from Western New England College.


Notes:

1) Motorola Mobile Workstation 800 Mounting Solutions

2) Redesigning police cruisers: In Rhode Island, it's an art
    Industrial design students streamline vehicles to increase officer safety


3 ) Why did so many die in accidents last year

4) Cg-lock seatbelt locks
   http://www.cg-lock.com/press_reviews/OfficerCom-10-24-07.pdf
   http://www.cg-lock.com/police/safetytesting

5) Overall crashworthiness evaluations, current models LARGE FAMILY CARS