The chief of the Casa Grande (AZ) Police Department has decided to send all of his patrol officers back to driving school following a series of minor accidents involving the agency’s vehicles.
Since April 5, nine Casa Grande police vehicles have been involved in accidents, Police Chief Mark McCrory said. There were only five such accidents in all of 2016, PinalCentral.com.
“We had three damaged in April, two in May and four in July. These collisions did not result in any injuries or loss of work time,” he said.
“With the recent implementation of our fleet efficiency program and the support given to it by council and city leadership, the recent rash of damages to our units has caused us great concern and embarrassment,” McCrory said. “Our command staff and supervisors have met to discuss a means to deal with this situation.”
Patrol officers currently are being required to undergo accident avoidance training and back-up training to refresh them on how to carefully back up their vehicles. McCrory also said the department will participate in a nationally recognized safe driver program known as Below 100, which has the intention of keeping the number of officers killed or injured in car crashes below 100 nationwide.