AWARD WINNING POLICING

Washington State Patrol

The award, called the “Law Enforcement Challenge,” recognizes excellence in reducing deaths and injuries on the nation's highways. The judges look closely at traffic enforcement, public education and occupant protection. Award rules require agencies that win their category to move up to a Championship Class the following year. WSP was one of 23 prior category winners competing in the 2007 Championship Class and came out on top.

WSP Chief, John R. Batiste stated, “This is an exceptional honor and belongs to the men and women of WSP who are committed to reducing deaths and injuries on Washington highways.” He was quick to add that this success belongs to more than just the uniformed troopers people see on the highways. Non–commissioned “professional staff” contributes greatly to highway safety. For example, they have “commercial vehicle officers who help keep the trucking industry “safe,” according to Chief Batiste. He states,“ We have computer experts who tell us where to target enforcement based on where collisions have occurred in the past. These civilian employees round out a great team that is saving lives everyday.”

Governor Chris Gregoire has lead efforts and signed legislation that improves emergency communications, ensures the DNA of all registered sex offenders is in the crime lab database, and stops drunk drivers by signing legislation making a DUI a felony. Gregoire also ensured trooper salaries are competitive with other agencies and support unprecedented “geographic pay” to give cost of living raises to troopers stationed in certain counties.

What impressed the judges for the 2007 National law Enforcement Challenge was the agencies ability to demonstrate how their enforcement and safety programs were contributing to the decline in traffic fatalities. The judges were also impressed with their special programs such as the Ignition Demonstration Project and Nighttime Protection Enforcement. Overall, WSP efforts affecting the statewide fatality numbers through education and enforcement have been very successful. In 2007, the WSP responded to 36,074 collisions with 17,027 of those occurring on interstate highways and the remaining 19,047 on state routes. These collisions resulted in 8,396 injuries and 241 fatalities. Of these fatal events, 53 resulted from impairment and 49 from speed–related incidents with 22% transpiring on interstate highways. When compared to 2006 this represents a 2% decrease in fatalities and an 8% decrease in injury collisions.

Washington's statewide traffic fatalities have fallen steadily over most of the past 10 years. Most recently, the overall traffic fatalities have fallen from 649 in 2005; to 633 in 2006; to 563 in 2007. This decrease represents a 10 percent drop in traffic deaths in 2007 from the previous year.

WSP enforcement and safety programs include:

Occupant Protection Enforcement (2007)
Officers contacted 73,062 vehicle occupants for seat belt violations and cited 65,072 of these violators resulting in an 89% enforcement rate. Child restraint violations also totaled 3,825 contacts resulting in 3,136 citations with an enforcement rate of 82%.
Agency personnel also participated in a wide variety of occupant restraint emphases, including “Click–it–or–Ticket,” Nighttime Seatbelt Enforcement patrols and Operation Care.

Impaired Driving Enforcement (2007)
Troopers arrested 22,210 drivers for DUI, representing a 3% increase compared to 2006. Furthermore, agency personnel also collaborate with other public safety officials in an effort to reduce underage drinking.

Speed Enforcement (2007)
Officers contacted 475,501 violators for speed and cited 320,675 with a resultant 67% enforcement rate.

The Washington State Patrol Aggressive Driving Team contacted 72,557 traffic violators in 2007, 15,863 of which were contacted as a result of aggressive driving. These represented respective increases of 8% and 17% when compared to 2006.