Tracking police driving habits

[dragon]

Everyone’s seen a cop driving like a jerk: Double parking and blocking traffic. Cruising down the highway way beyond the speed limit, with no suspect to run down. Blatantly texting while driving. Pulling the old turn-on-the-siren-just-long-enough-to-run-the-red-light trick. And for anyone who’s fantasized about making a citizen’s arrest of one of their city’s finest, police departments soon will be able to track how their cops are driving, and when they’re behaving badly.

Ford has created a way for law enforcement bosses to see where their subordinates go and track how they’re driving. Fifty Los Angeles Police Department cruisers have been outfitted with transmitters that send officers’ driving information to their supervisors, and can even tell if the boys in blue are wearing seat belts. The system is a joint effort by Ford and California software firm Telogis, and designed for the Police Interceptor models of the Explorer and Taurus. The idea is that accountability will lead to better and safer driving behavior. Auto insurance companies have been doing the same thing for years.

“From a business standpoint, these are expensive vehicles with expensive employees driving them,” says Bryan Vila, a professor and researcher at Washington State University. He also spent 17 years as an officer, including nine with the LA County sheriff. “When they crash, they’re also more likely to kill bystanders and civilians, so there’s a public safety side. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the LAPD implementing this.”

Police organizations have been ramping up education about the risks of driving fast, but Vila, having spent time with a badge and gun, understands the urge to ignore those lessons. “If you’re a young cop and someone gives you a fast car to drive, there’s a lot of temptation to do it,” Vila says. “Whether its safe, or not, and whether it’s legal, or not.”

Ford Telematics for Law Enforcement lets police departments see if their officers are giving in to those temptations. The system knows if the light bar is turned on, and measures the speed of the car against the limit. It looks for hard braking and sudden acceleration. It sees when the car spins and when the anti-lock braking system is engaged. Unlike conventional black boxes for cars, it can transmit data in real-time. And if the airbags deploy, dispatchers will see it and know to send backup immediately.
Ford Police 1

Ford

There are safety advantages for cops, too. Car crashes kill dozens of officers annually, but most California police don’t wear seat belts, according to a recent study. That may be because they find it uncomfortable while wearing other gear, they think it can prevent them from reaching their gun, or they may find it annoying given how often they get into and out of their cars. If the higher-ups want to enforce the use of seat belts, having info on who’s buckled up is a big help.

“With officers, you’re talking about a culture,” says Detective Meghan Aguilar, who’s been at the LAPD for 18 years, and whose title makes her one of the aforementioned higher-ups. “When I started it was much more common for police to not wear their seatbelt. You’re fighting a misperception that [wearing a seat belt] slows you down exiting the vehicle, pursuing a suspect.”

This type of monitoring uses technology to give supervisors eyes where they couldn’t see before. The basic principle is that being watched will prompt officers to follow the rules. “If there’s equipment that allows me to monitor that, without having to be in front of every vehicle,” Aguilar says, “there’s a good chance that behavior is going to be modified.”

That doesn’t mean every cop likes the idea of being watched over. “There’s a distinction between encouraging and active real-time monitoring that’s going to your supervisor,” says Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations. “It almost sounds like they’re trolling for violations.”

Professor Vila says this type of monitoring, used along side education about the consequences of driving irresponsibly, will be effective, and for that reason, a moral imperative. “How do you say, ‘No, I don’t want to be safer,’” he says. “There isn’t a responsible way to defend that.”

Ford hasn’t announced what the factory-installed system costs, but it should be available next year. It’s an advantage for the company, which, three years after discontinuing the Crown Victoria, competes with Chrysler and GM to provide vehicles to the nation’s police departments. If Ford can link its name to an exclusive technology like this, it could have an edge. Depending on how the LAPD’s test goes, Ford’s tech could end up in more of the 1,800 police vehicles driven by the city’s 10,000-strong police force.

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[Raw Shark]

I very nearly Googled "polk ice," you bastard. :p

On-Topic: This is the best news I've heard all day and I hope it gets implemented here in Denver. Everybody here drives like they have their fucking pants on their head, and the cops are still a stand-out road hazard. They're definitely adopting the Taurus and Explorer for the Crown Vic phase-out in the city, though some of the suburbs and maverick enclave Glendale are definitely leaning toward the Dodge Charger for their new interceptors.

The bad news for me, of course, is that if this does become widespread, my company will have similar ability to monitor my cab inside of ten years. They'll threaten more than they'll actually do it, though; they don't even like paying $8/hour for call-takers in dispatch.

[Borgholio]

“It almost sounds like they’re trolling for violations.”

Heh...now they get a taste of their own medicine. I can't wait to hear the bitching when some asshole cops* start getting written up for things they pull people over for on a daily basis.

*Note - referring to cops who specifically are assholes...not referring to all cops as being assholes.

[Raw Shark]

“It almost sounds like they’re trolling for violations.”

Heh...now they get a taste of their own medicine. I can't wait to hear the bitching when some asshole cops* start getting written up for things they pull people over for on a daily basis. [snip]

Seriously. Every time I see the fucking prick who cited me for obstructing traffic while I was helping an old lady down an icy staircase obstructing traffic himself to chat with his buddy my vision goes red.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

I very nearly Googled "polk ice," you bastard. :p

Polk Ice: A frequently mocked Central European rapper from the late 1980's.

[biostem]

In this day and age, they should require cops to wear cameras/mics and GPS trackers while on duty. And gaps in those recordings should be treated as an admission of guilt of misconduct. Of course, undercover, plainclothes, or other such instances where (invasion of) privacy would occur, should be exempt - or at least just fit regular beat cops with this equipment (wouldn't be bulky - something like a gopro with a battery good for, say, 12 hours).

This evidence should also be at the disposal of someone who is arrested, for instances where they claim to have been mislead or mistreated by the arresting officer.

[PKRudeBoy]

I very nearly Googled "polk ice," you bastard. :p

Polk Ice: A frequently mocked Central European rapper from the late 1980's.

Now I have a mental image of Vanilla Ice crossed with Weird Al. Thanks a lot.

[Gaidin]

You think cops are bad. You should see bus drivers. Once saw one do a 90(or so) degree left turn to get to the turn-on he needed across four lanes of traffic because he got his routes mixed up. Just turned on his signal, and every driver(in DC metro) stopped and let him. Nobody wanted to screw with a vehicle that big. Let's not get into the traffic blocking. Admittedly, without the blinky lights they haven't yet figured out how to run a red light at a whim. But one day...

[Joun_Lord]

In this day and age, they should require cops to wear cameras/mics and GPS trackers while on duty. And gaps in those recordings should be treated as an admission of guilt of misconduct. Of course, undercover, plainclothes, or other such instances where (invasion of) privacy would occur, should be exempt - or at least just fit regular beat cops with this equipment (wouldn't be bulky - something like a gopro with a battery good for, say, 12 hours).

This evidence should also be at the disposal of someone who is arrested, for instances where they claim to have been mislead or mistreated by the arresting officer.

I so agree with this though I think any police body cameras should have their data transmitted to a 3rd parties server that police can access but cannot edit. It would make it safer and less likely to have any abuses for any police interactions if there is an all seeing eye making sure nothing is hinky.

Would make things easier for cops too. Anytime someone says something, like claiming abuse or they didn do nuffin the cop be all like "nu uh" and have videographical evidence to back it up.

Something like the Darren Brown shooting, a case of he said/he said. There would be no confusion, no having to deal with unreliable witnesses, just the truth (which we can handle) if the cop in the shooting was mandated to wear a camera.

I wonder if it would also be possible to have some camera mounted on their sidearm. Most modern pistols used by law enforcement, things like Glocks, S&W M&P 9, Sig P226, have a rail for a weapon light. It probably wouldn't add too much to weight to have a Go Pro-ish camera that activates when the weapon is removed from the holster.

[Grumman]

Something like the Darren Brown shooting, a case of he said/he said. There would be no confusion, no having to deal with unreliable witnesses, just the truth (which we can handle) if the cop in the shooting was mandated to wear a camera.

I don't know that that is true. The physical evidence supports Wilson's claim that Brown was shot reaching into the car for Wilson's weapon, but I would not expect a body camera to provide clear video of someone approaching from the side and getting shot at point blank range.

[Death from the Sea]

In this day and age, they should require cops to wear cameras/mics and GPS trackers while on duty. And gaps in those recordings should be treated as an admission of guilt of misconduct. Of course, undercover, plainclothes, or other such instances where (invasion of) privacy would occur, should be exempt - or at least just fit regular beat cops with this equipment (wouldn't be bulky - something like a gopro with a battery good for, say, 12 hours).

This evidence should also be at the disposal of someone who is arrested, for instances where they claim to have been mislead or mistreated by the arresting officer.

because fuck due process right? what happens when there is a legitimate failure with the camera, the software or even just the audio from the video? because that is bound to happen.

After Ferguson, many agencies are having a knee jerk reaction to just buy body cameras, which is not a definitive solution. I am not saying that body cameras are a bad idea but they are not going to provide 100% of the information people think they will. I have been saved by the in car camera on several occasions from false complaints, where the complaining citizen completely lied, so cameras are a good thing in my opinion. But camera's do have limitations.

as for putting a camera on the gun, that is just not realistic. The light rail on most pistols is utilized by a large majority of officers to put a light on the pistol (with departments that allow them because they are so "scary" looking to the public.). And if you start attaching objects (such as cameras) on parts of the gun not designed for something to be there and then the gun will begin to malfunction.

It is often already assumed that officers are in the wrong when a citizen complaint comes in and left to the officer to disprove the complaint.


But I would be willing to guess that if this feature to track all of this information provided by the vehicles is an extra feature that costs more $$$ that many agencies will not pony up the dough and just skip it.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

I very nearly Googled "polk ice," you bastard. :p

Polk Ice: A frequently mocked Central European rapper from the late 1980's.

Now I have a mental image of Vanilla Ice crossed with Weird Al. Thanks a lot.

Rice, rice baby!

[Adam Reynolds]

Interestingly something like this does already happen in some areas. My dad recently retired from law enforcement in northern California and since he worked for the sheriff's department he and his colleagues were actually subject to tickets from red light cameras. Though of course the agency that ran the cameras never got tickets themselves.

There is a story from this that is simultaneously amusing and troubling. A pair of detectives from his department were caught driving through a red light camera while on the job and were rather irritated by their ticket so they decided to retaliate against the officer who ran the red light tickets. They took a photograph of his license plate and taped it over their own while taking a face mask of said officer's face and held it up in front of the camera while driving directly through the red light. Because it was his own identity there was no way to find out who did it.

Another story that would also be solved by something like this idea was when a group of city cops in northern California decided to make a game out of having a replacement supervisor. Making a challenge to see who could drive the farthest in a single ten hour shift. Initially it was relatively short distances, going to Reno or the edge of LA. What ultimately got them caught was when a pair drove to Las Vegas in ten hours. Their estimated average speed was over 100 mph.