St. Louis, MOTwo St. Louis police officers were recently killed in two separate Missouri traffic accidents while not wearing their seat belts, prompting the local chief of police to rethink driving safety measures for the municipal police force.
Police Chief Dan Isom told the St. Louis Globe Democrat that wearing one's seat belt is mandatory for officers in patrol cars, particularly when faced with a pursuit, as both officers had been at the times of their accidents. While appearing at the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners meeting this past week, Isom called for stricter regulations for officers in the field.
Despite the enhanced safety that may come from this proposed amendment to standard operating procedure, the move has been met with opposition from police officers themselves who feel that being buckled in may actually hinder their pursuit in the event that they have to give chase on foot at some point.
Isom hopes to instill other regulation changes to pursuit procedures, including lowering an officer's speed when passing through an intersection and ending the procession of patrol cars closely following one another, or caravanning.
"[We] recognize that pursuits are extremely dangerous, a lot of factors have to be weighed," Isom told the news provider. "Unfortunately, tragically, despite the best of intentions, sometimes we don't get the result we expect."
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