California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2017_Spring Magazine.v3 | Page 12

HONORING THE FALLEN BY
TRAINING THE LIVING
By Dale Stockton
“We deal with tragedy all the time and when so
much of it can be prevented, why wouldn’t we
engage in a program that would reduce the risk
to ourselves and the community? For that reason,
Below 100 is the program that we need
to implement today.” —Chief John Carli, Vacaville PD.
Below 100 is a common-sense
approach to officer safety that has
now been underway for over six
years. Although the training has been
delivered in most states, there are still
many law enforcement professionals
who are either unfamiliar with the
program or have misconceptions
about what the program stands for.
Why Is It Called Below 100?
And why isn’t the goal zero?
The sobering answer is that this isn’t
realistic. Those who wear a badge
stand in the gap between good and
evil, a responsibility that can be both
dangerous and deadly. When a goal
is obviously unobtainable, such as
“zero death, zero injury,” it serves
no purpose and is often dismissed
outright.
Over the last twenty years, losses
due to vehicle-related incidents have
accounted for approximately 25%
more deaths than gunfire. Data from
an extensive National Highway
Transportation Safety Administration
(NHTSA) review show half of fatal
police crashes are single-vehicle crashes.
Primary collision factor: speed. Just
as troubling: roughly half of officers
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choose not to wear seatbelts while on
duty. When it comes to speed, single-
vehicle crashes and not wearing a
seatbelt, it is extremely difficult to
blame the bad guy.
Below 100 has five very
straightforward tenets:
1. Wear your seatbelt.
2. Wear your vest.
3. Watch your speed.
4. WIN: What’s Important Now?
5. Remember: Complacency Kills!
Seems simple, right? Yes, but
simple to understand does not mean
easy to make happen.
Below 100 has proven successful
at changing attitudes and has been
recognized as the most successful
training program in law enforcement
history. Over sixty-thousand officers
have been trained and NHTSA is now
providing funding for some classes
and outreach.
Is Below 100 Working?
The California Highway Patrol
has taught Below 100 agency wide
for over four years and LAPD is
beginning their department wide
training soon. One example of Below
100 effectiveness is the Yolo County
Sheriff’s Office. The department’s
leaders knew they had a speed
problem and had experienced an
average of one at-fault crash per
month over a period of ten years.
Several deputies had been seriously
injured and two were forced into
early retirement. The crashes had
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars
and untold suffering. After engaging
with Below 100, the department
went more than 30 months with zero
at-fault crashes. The agency received
the National Law Enforcement
Officers’ Memorial Fund 2015 Traffic
Safety Award for its outstanding
accomplishment.
Are Seatbelts, Speed and Body
Armor Wear Really a Problem?
Based on extensive research by
the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), work done
by California Peace Officers Standards
and Training, documentation by FBI
Law Enforcement Officers Killed
and Assaulted (LEOKA) studies and
countless queries conducted by Below
100 trainers, we know that seatbelt
use by officers is approximately fifty
percent. Since 1980, well over 150
officers have been ejected from their
vehicles and died. Seatbelts work but
only when they’re used.
Speed is very often the primary
collision factor in police crashes and
half of fatal crashes are single vehicle,
meaning the officer was primarily
responsible. There are times high