Crash Rate of Police Cars Spurs Call for Safety Course : Law enforcement: All but three of the department’s 101 patrol cars were involved in collisions last year. More than half the 155 accidents could have been prevented, a memo says.

The Long Beach Police Department--where virtually every patrol car was involved in a traffic accident during the last fiscal year--is considering a driver awareness program to improve a collision record that cost the city $147,000 in damages, according to a department memo.

The department, which has 101 black-and-white cruisers, reported 155 collisions--about 1 1/2 accidents per car. More than half of those could have been prevented, said the Nov. 12 memo from Acting Deputy Chief Stephen Bonswor to Assistant Chief Eugene Brizzolara.

By comparison, the Los Angeles Police Department averaged about one accident for every three cars. The LAPD, which keeps a fleet of 3,347 vehicles, recorded 1,138 accidents last year, a spokesman said.

The Long Beach accident rate “translates to untold pain/suffering and loss from duty,” wrote Bonswor, noting that 18 Long Beach officers were injured, six of them seriously. “A high percentage of these accidents resulted in lawsuits and claims with substantial judgments rendered against the city of Long Beach.”

Indeed, all but three of Long Beach’s fleet of 101 patrol cars were in traffic collisions last year, the memo said.

To curtail the number of on-duty crashes, police officials are considering an accident prevention program that would feature courses on defensive driving, offer remedial driver training and step up discipline for officers who disregard safety or repeatedly are involved in accidents, the memo said.

Bonswor could not be reached for comment, and other Long Beach police officials refused to discuss the department’s accident record or the proposed program.

Paul Chastain, president of the Police Officers Assn., said he does not consider Long Beach’s accident record excessive. Most of the reported collisions are minor fender-benders, he said.

“We’re not talking about hitting other people,” Chastain said. “These are mostly cars backing into poles, spinning out, breaking suspension, running over curbs.

“It’s part of the job. It happens quite often driving through alleys and parking lots and responding to calls,” Chastain said. “Long Beach officers are very safe drivers.”

Chastain said he welcomes the proposed additional training and supervision but is wary about suggested changes in discipline. Union officials are reviewing the department’s recommendations.

“We want to participate in this program, but we want to do it properly. We don’t want minor fender-benders to become a problem,” Chastain said.

The proposed accident prevention program sets up a progressive discipline chart that increases the punishment from counseling and training to termination, depending on the cause of the accident and the number of previous collisions, even minor ones.

The program would require all officers to attend an eight-hour driving course every two years, as well as quarterly presentations on safety and defensive driving. At such presentations, for example, officers who escaped accidents without serious harm might be called upon to discuss the benefits of seat belts, the memo said.

Officials estimate that an accident prevention program “will reduce material, personnel and liability costs associated with on-duty traffic collisions by a projected 25%,” the memo said.

Six of 10 other major police departments in the state have adopted similar in-house prevention programs, all of which have helped reduce the number of traffic accidents, according to the memo. In Los Angeles, for example, one study showed a 30% reduction in overall police traffic accidents and a 300% reduction in preventable accidents.

Currently, the Long Beach department tests officers by having a supervisor occasionally tag along and check off a list of appropriate and inappropriate driving moves, much like a state driving examiner.

“(The) only defensive driving or driver safety training is through limited in-service training on an as-needed or requested basis,” Bonswor wrote, calling the system “very generic and . . . not suitable for law enforcement.”

Officers involved in car accidents are sent for additional training to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Though calling that program “excellent,” the memo states that there is a waiting period to enroll.

Otherwise, the only driver safety training all officers now receive, including procedures in high-speed chases, is at the police academy, Chastain said.

Chastain said that high-speed chases are not linked to most of the accidents because the department’s pursuit policy is “very strict, probably the strictest in the state.”

Officers are not permitted to chase traffic violators unless they appear drunk, are driving stolen cars or have committed crimes, Chastain said. “We can’t chase someone for running a red light. . . . That’s not what’s causing accidents.”