You may remember our recent Watchdog post that took Orange County Sheriff’s deputies to task for dozens of minor traffic accidents involving county vehicles. We looked at the records for 558 accidents and were surprised to find a high number of deputies hitting guard rails, posts, parked cars and – in a few cases — other patrol vehicles.
We noted that damages were mostly minor and that sheriff’s vehicles logged 8.4 million miles last fiscal year — the only official mileage given to us by the department.
The post has brought a strong response from the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs. Spokesperson Kimberly Edds, who once wrote for the Watchdog, called our review “inherently flawed.”
“Of course deputy-caused accidents do happen, especially with the enormous amount of distractions that are built into driving a technologically advanced law enforcement vehicle….Deputies are human beings, too. They make mistakes and are held accountable for their mistakes.”
But Edds noted:
“With 18.98 accidents per million miles driven, Orange County Sheriff’s personnel had the lowest accident rate among the three agencies Mr. Saavedra surveyed, with Santa Ana Police Department coming in at 29.82 accidents per million miles and Anaheim Police Department at 55.3 accidents per million miles.
Out of the three departments, the Sheriff’s Department was the only one which provided vehicle collision reports, which include the details of the crashes and explanations by Sheriff’s personnel on what happened and how the accidents could have been avoided. Mr. Saavedra’s article focused almost entirely on accidents involving Sheriff’s Department personnel despite the department having the lowest incident rate.
Orange County Sheriff’s deputies are required to report any collision, regardless of whether the collision results in damage or not — an important fact Saavedra neglected to make clear. Many of the accidents reported between January 2009 and June 2012 resulted in nothing more than scuffs, smudges or no damage at all to county property.”
Edds goes on to say that “many” accidents were caused by civilians who rear-ended, crashed into or sideswiped sheriff’s vehicles. (The Watchdog actually noted that not all accidents were the fault of sheriff’s deputies and included an incident where a suspected drunken driver backed into a patrol car.)
Edds again:
“Emergency driving training is extensive, but there is no way to predict how a criminal, whose freedom is at stake, will drive when trying to flee deputies. Law enforcement is tasked with the ultimate responsibility of protecting the public from the criminal element. It seems rather ludicrous to criticize a deputy for crashing into a suspect’s vehicle who suddenly stops during a pursuit.”
Edds criticizes the Watchdog for using 4 1/2-years of repair costs while looking at 3 1/2 years of accident data.
“If Saavedra had stayed within the 3 1/2-year review period, accident repair costs to the Sheriff’s fleet would have fallen by 36 percent. Saavedra also failed to point out that the county actively works to recover costs from the insurance companies of at-fault drivers who collide with vehicles driven by deputies.”
Besides Edds, some readers gave the Watchdog a shellacking for even writing about deputy fender-benders.
“How is this even news? All the OCR does it (sic) go after police departments trying to find something to make a story about,” commented David Bell. “You have vehicles on the road 24/7, they are bound to hit something at some point.”
But other readers thought the information was useful.
“This is about accountability,” wrote Kathleen Robinson. “Holding LE (law enforcement) accountable is not bashing LE.”
The Watchdog agrees there are two — and often more — sides to every story. And every bent license plate.
More Watchdog:
Sheriff’s union weighs in on deputy driving story is a post from: OC Watchdog
