Researchers Corner Police on Distracted Driving

Teenagers are infamous for it. Most responsible adults wouldn't want to admit that they do it. But now, should we add the state's police officers to the list of distracted drivers?

Student researchers from St. Mary's University of Minnesota think so. After studying the 378 crashes involving Minnesota police from 2006-10, they're pointing to the amount of technology inside squad cars in a number of police-involved auto crashes.

Not only did 14 percent of those accidents involve distracted officers, but the tiny number of those—6 percent—distracted by their cars' computers caused a whopping 21.8 percent of the damage, as measured by the dollar amounts of insurance claims.

Put another way, an average crash involving a laptop-using officer created $11,300 of damage. The average non-distracted officer only caused $3,700 in damage.

Is Tech Worth The Risk?

The rapid spread of in-car laptops is arguably one of the biggest revolutions in police work. Typically, the machines give an officer access to large amounts of off-site data resources. It can dramatically improve policing, but is that utility worth the devices' potential in distracted-driving incidents?

"Our officers have an incredible amount of multi-tasking to do," said Golden Valley Police Commander Mike Meehan. "But the public has asked us to do it, and because of the influx of new technology into our cruiser, we're a more effective police department."

Important Data Missing

The study's authors acknowledged they couldn't draw sweeping conclusions because of two big questions left unanswered: In nearly half the accidents examined, it wasn't clear from the officer's or adjuster's report whether technology played a role. Another 48 accidents from the same time period covered by the study were still unsolved and couldn't be included in the report.

Researchers suggested there was a distinct culture within law enforcement that may be skewing some of the data.

Put simply, officers may not be completely truthful when recounting the details of a crash, for fear of disciplinary action, the report said.

has largely dodged that obstacle. Meehan, who has been in a supervisory role for more than 10 years, said his department uses intense training and constant monitoring to prevent distracted driving by officers on the road. As for disciplinary action, he said his department has never had to use it for distracted driving.

"Don't get me wrong, in my years in this role, we've had an accident or two caused by distracted driving," Meehan said. "It's not that we're unaware, but it hasn't become a major issue."

Meehan said he's confident about the low number of accidents because the department doesn't rely solely on an officer's account of what happened—he can see it for himself. 

"Think of it like the DVR on your TV at home," he said. "Audio and video is contantly being captured in the car. If the car is in an accident, if an officer activates the emergency lights, or if an officer manually pushes a button, we're able to see and hear what was going on 30 seconds before any of those things happen."

Still, Meehan admitted the potential for a mishap caused by distracted driving is right at an officer's fingertips.

"You're talking about a group of people who are on the road all day," he said.  "They've got the laptop, the police radio, a cell phone, and they're focusing on what's happening outside their car."

Meehan said there's no written policy against distracted driving, but said his officers go through frequent and intense emergency driving training.

"And more importantly, we work to constantly create a mindset that unless it's an emergency, you always pull over and stop before getting the data you need."

And in an emergency, Meehan said officers do what cops have been doing for decades: They use the police radio and retrieve information over the air.

"It's never going to be a perfect situation," Meehan said.  "We don't have the funds to put two cops in a car to monitor each other. As long as the public needs us on patrol, we'll be working to make sure our officers are as safe as we can train them to be."