If your city has a major crash with fatalities involved, investigators are going to be called out. If your city only has one or two investigators—very common in smaller agencies with tight budgets—investigations of the crash scene could take many hours. Depending on your state, the highway patrol could be summoned, but their response time will most likely be delayed due to their other duties and capabilities. So when it’s urgent, who do you call?
Agencies in the Summit County, Ohio, region have found a solution: A specialized, multi-talented team of vehicle accident investigators makes itself available for serious injury or fatal crashes. Given the dire financial status of most police departments, this team concept couldn’t be more timely.
Team of Pooled Resources
In 2004, crash investigators from several area police agencies in Summit County began meeting and planning ways to share knowledge, hone skills, maintain training and provide their expertise and equipment. What emerged was the Summit Metro Crash Response Team (SMcRT).
Police departments in Summit County have spent tens of thousands of dollars training officers for crash investigation, says Sgt. Dann Nivens, administrative commander for SMcRT. “But you don’t use these skills every day, so it’s hard to keep the proficiency level up,” he says.
“We also noticed that when these agencies were helped by outside agencies (i.e., highway patrol, the county sheriff’s office or independent crash reconstructionists) in investigations, they got an unbiased investigation,” Nivens adds.
According to Officer Jonathan Bastock, the SMcRT’s Operations Commander, the idea behind SMcRT was “to pool resources, not just in total stations and other equipment, but to pool intellectual resources.” This helps the entire team because members can fine-tune their skills and talk to each other during peer reviews. “It allows us to look at crashes from many different viewpoints,” says Bastock.
How It Works
For any police department in Summit County to receive the SMcRT’s services, it must join the team by offering a Level 2 traffic investigator and some kind of equipment (digital camera, total station, etc.). Nonparticipating police departments may also tap the SMcRT‘s aid; but they must pay for the team’s services, which can range between $5,000 and $7,000.
Team members use a variety of equipment to ensure that any crash scene can be mapped thoroughly, accurately and professionally.
“First and foremost, we use a Sokkia total station because that is our accuracy measuring and documenting instrument,” says Nivens. Although the crash team has used other versions of total station equipment, “With the Sokkia, one officer can operate the unit, if necessary, to facilitate an orderly processing of the crash scene.”
The SMcRT used a borrowed Sokkia SET4 total station, but recently upgraded to a model SET550RX, which gives the ability to shoot crash scenes in reflector-less mode up to about 1,300 feet. The new total station also will have an SHC250 data collector.
Since the crash team believes in having a variety of measurement devices, it also uses a pole-mounted GPS total station, as well as a laser mapping system. Among other tools the crash team has acquired are three Sony 28-megapixel digital cameras. Mapping crash scenes is never limited only to sophisticated crash-scene measurement technology. Every scene is also measured using a tape measure, then photographed and hand-sketched.
Valid Responses Only
The SMcRT may handle up to 16 callouts a year. “We don’t go out on every single call,” says Nivens. “We deal strictly with fatalities and serious injuries, unusual circumstances, or anything involving an emergency response.”
Bastock explains that every legitimate call for the crash team’s services comes through the Stow (Ohio) Police Department dispatch center. When a call comes in, “the dispatcher is contacting me as the operations commander,” says Bastock, who works with the Stow PD. “The request has to be triaged.”
Bastock says that requests for help from chiefs or lieutenants from other departments may not meet the team’s response criteria. Such requests are denied.
Meanwhile, says Sgt. Nivens, “We try to educate the administrators and supervisors of various departments as to when they should call us.”
Time Savings, Accuracy & Cost Sharing
Sgt. Jeff Lyle of the Boston Heights, Ohio, Police Department, who is a SMcRT member, photographs the crash scenes during a crash team callout.
Lyle sees accuracy as the biggest advantage to his police department’s participation in SMcRT. But time savings are substantial too.
“When we show up (at a crash scene), something I might have spent 12–24 hours alone on is shortened,” says Lyle. “And instead of shutting the road down for two to four hours, we’re shutting it down for an hour or two.”
Lyle, a Level 2 traffic investigator and sergeant, is taking classes to become a reconstructionist and likes the fact that the crash team members always check each other’s work at a scene. “It’s streamlined,” he says. “If you’ve got to go to court, you’ve got 10 guys (the SMcRT members) standing behind you.”
Shared cost of crash investigations is another huge advantage for the SMcRT’s unique concept, according to Sgt. Jay Nagy of the Norton (Ohio) Police Department, also a crash team member. Nagy, who is the SMcRT’s assistant administrative commander, notes that by having several agencies pool their resources for crash scene callouts, police departments can free up officers for other duties.
“We don’t incur great overtime expenses or contact neighboring jurisdictions to help with our calls because we’re tied up with a crash,” says Nagy.
Better Investigations
Timeliness is crucial for crash investigations, too, in the view of Chuck Veppert, a retired reconstructionist with the Ohio State Patrol, a longtime SMcRT advisor and current president of the National Association of Professional Accident Reconstruction Specialists (NAPARS).
Veppert argues that if a police agency is lucky enough to get state assistance at a major crash scene, that help will not arrive quickly. In fact, it could be days before a scene is investigated and mapped.
“It really cuts into your ability to do a good investigation if you’re going to wait two or three days to get some expert assistance,” says Veppert, “as opposed to having a team available that you can call out at 4 a.m. that’s going to come out and work on the scene fresh and be able to collect evidence quickly.”
Conclusion
All jurisdictions are different in some respects. But we all strive in our own way to respond to what can be chaotic scenes. SMcRT is a great example of thinking beyond one agency and coming together to solve a problem. If you think their model might work for you, email Officer Jonathan Bastock at [email protected] for more details.
Skills Maintenance
Gordon Graham calls them high-risk/low-frequency events: Things that don’t happen very often, but when they do, you better know what you’re doing or the results could be disastrous.
Because these events require enhanced skills and constant training, progressive departments form special teams. SWAT teams are one example; Summit County’s crash management team is another. By keeping a core cadre constantly trained and impeccably equipped, special teams can be extremely effective when the big call comes in. Bottom line: Consider where your vulnerabilities are, and start a team now to prepare for the inevitable.
Advantages of a shared crash team
• Pooled resources defray costs among agencies
• Personnel are trained& experienced
• Equipment is top-notch
• Response is fast & work is done quickly
