

You jam-on your brakes narrowly missing a rear ender.  The civilian driver in the car in the next lane flashes a dirty look with a half-assed grin on his mug.   You are supposed to be the example of safe driving.  Does that sound like something that you’ve heard about our maybe even seen?

What am I gonna tell the Sarge?


Admit it (at least to yourself): near misses have happened to you.  The National Transportation Safety Administration attributes well above 10% of all fatal accidents to driver distraction.  So, what makes a cop immune from these dangers?  Here’s some late-breaking news: you are not protected from any of these dangers.

“I can’t do my job if I can’t respond to my computer or send text messages while driving,” is your response.  Really?

For many years, your brothers and sisters of yester-year were able to do the job using what was termed a “Call Box”. When the dispatcher (a real person – always a female named Jennie or Mabel) got a call for service, she would activate a blue light which was either on top of the town’s water tower or at various places within a district.  When the patrol cop saw the light was illuminated, using the call box, he would call the dispatcher to get the details.



As technology has advanced, we have loaded our patrol cars with electronics that we now believe we absolutely must have in order to complete the mission.  However, as we have added each of these devices, little attention has been given to the human (ergonomic) factors.  Equally important:  how will cops work with these devices in a tactically sound manner and not be distracted when driving?

In addition to the equipment which is already in the car, we bring in other gadgets: body cameras, smart phones and other devices.  Collectively, they create the perfect storm of an accident looking for a place to happen.

On January 20, 2010, NY State trooper Janice Mattice was killed when returning to her post.   She drifted into another lane and ran into the back end of a tractor trailer at 57 mph.  Although, the investigation ruled that she not was texting or talking on a cell phone <ahem>, something distracted her which resulted in her death.  While we don’t know what the distraction was, it is obvious that factors other than texting and cell phones were the likely culprit.  There are many other distractions which can take an officer’s mind off the road and they can be deadly.

Thirty states now have laws prohibiting texting while driving, yet most of those laws give police officers an exception.  Although some departments have tried to write policy regarding the use of texting devices, they are – more-or-less a “cover-your-ass” approach for when an accident happens. Yet, the real problem of officer distraction goes way beyond looking at or sending text messages.  So what are you supposed to do?  How can you do your job and not be distracted while driving?

First and foremost AWARENESS of the problem is key to finding a solution.  Recognizing that cops have no innate ability to multi-task when driving is vital to our survival.  Training and on-the-job experience has made more of us better at what is called “pattern recognition” or the ability to spot things such as criminal behaviors that others don’t see, but that is pretty much where it ends.

According to Tony Scotti, founder and godfather of the Driving Dynamics Institute, “It is a matter of physics.  Reaction time is reaction time and stopping distances are controlled by physics.”  Said another way, “It is what it is.”


The few seconds that it would take to pull over to the side of the road, slow down or leave a larger gap between cars are not going to make much difference in our ability to get to the scene of an incident any faster.  Worse, if a distraction causes an accident, it means we might not make it to the scene at all.

Yup, I know that all sounds good.  Complacency and thoughtless urgency kills us – and it can kill YOU.  When you get into the mindset that, “it can’t happen to me” is when you get nailed by fate.  What has happened over time:  you have successfully multi-tasked, working all the electronics in your patrol car, possibly even texting while driving and nothing has happened.  Oh yeah, there are those near miss rear-enders (sigh).


The COMPUTER should be considered “at fault”


  • Driving requires your full attention
  • Remember: it takes you just as long to stop or control your vehicle as it does for the person next to you or in front of you.
  • Always wear your seat / shoulder belts
  • Frequently check your rear view mirror and scan what is around you.
  • Remember: getting there safely is better than not getting there at all.

So do police administrators and equipment manufactures believe we are still responding to the old fashion “Call Box”?  It often seems so.  Truth is that most top-level decision makers have never worked a patrol shift with any of this technology.  They lack a first-hand understanding of the fundamental changes it has brought to patrol work.



After all, it’s comes down to saving just ONE life.


This article was co-authored with John Demand.

It comes from the CopBlue Vault.



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