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Patrol car gadgets could become missiles in accidents
By JESSE FRUHWIRTHFARMINGTON -- Some officers worry that safety design has not kept pace with the technological innovations in police vehicles. In a rollover, the laptops found in just about every cop car, for example, could become deadly projectiles.
"If our officers are involved in an accident, we know the printer and radar and computer are going to be missiles," Bountiful Police Lt. Randy Pickett said. "They're going to tumble around in that compartment."
Pickett said despite the dangers, the vehicles are made "as safe as they can be" while accommodating all the equipment now standard in police vehicles.
Until North Salt Lake Police Officer Charlie Skinner died in a traffic crash this month, there had not been an on-duty officer fatality because of a traffic crash since 2003.
The potential is always present, however.
Davis County Sheriff's Lt. Brad Wilcox added more items to the list of potentially deadly projectiles that are now common in police cruisers.
"The first one is the shotgun and the shotgun lock that sits about 6 inches from your head," he said of the 2006 Ford Explorer in the county's fleet. "The computer and computer stand, the center console, radio console switches, then up in front there's a radar antenna and radar controls. Then on the top in the center there's controls for the in-car dash video."
Metal knobs and other protrusions were discussed considerably in Ralph Nader's 1965 book, "Unsafe at Any Speed."
That book is widely credited with inspiring safer consumer car design, but police deal with a similar situation today.
Some changes are being made by vehicle manufacturers, but the safety changes are out of reach for most departments, Pickett said.
"Ford, on their cruisers, has developed a thing where they integrate the computer, siren controls and lighting controls into the dashboard itself," Pickett said. "But those types of integrations are expensive and out of reach for a lot of agencies. Then you're locked into a particular brand or model of computer and siren box."
Wilcox said there is an industrywide effort with safety in mind to standardize cruiser components.
"There's been a project under way to standardize vehicles and what goes into a vehicle," Wilcox said, "which would be more agency-friendly."
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Finger44, you sound like a cop a trigger happy one. hope that putter dont crush your cop skull while your undoing your seat bealt grabing for your gun to ticket sombody for not wearing a seatbelt
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