If you overdrive, they know it!
There has been a pilot program going on now for quite some time evaluating the Telematics system. At the risk of sounding like a Los Angeles Times reporter, a “source” close to the program reports that management is shocked by the number of officers who are going double the speed limit. And, in many cases, they’re not wearing their seat belts
when the pedal is to the metal. And these are officers who know that their vehicles are equipped with Telematics and know they are being monitored.
Telematics, you recall, is a system attached to your police vehicle that tracks the location, speed, braking, seat belt use and a bunch of other information (like geo-fencing, whatever that is) in real time and is capable of sending notifications to the Department when preset triggers are activated. Telematics was the subject of a “Warning Bells” article in April 2008 when it appeared that it was going to go into effect Department- wide, but lack of funding delayed its execution.
I won’t repeat the details in that article again here. I would like to sound some warning bells, however, even if it might be repetitious.
Telematics is about to go Department- wide in the next month or so. The money has been found, and the vendor contracts are almost in place. According to the Department, reverence for human life remains a guiding principle for the Department, which includes officer safety. To ensure Department personnel are practicing safe-driving behaviors, speed and seat belt usage will be routinely monitored for potential aggressive driving behaviors and/or policy procedure violations. One of the most important objectives for the use of Telematics is to reduce employee injuries as a result of overdriving and traffic collisions.
Telematics knows what street you are driving on and what the speed limit is on that street. It knows whether you are wearing your seat belt, or not. It knows if your emergency lights are on, or not. It records this information and a lot more, and the information is kept in a data bank for at least a year. That means that the Department can always go back and look for a pattern if they are so inclined. It’s also discoverable,
so that plaintiffs’ attorneys can do the same thing if you are the subject of a lawsuit. That being the case, it might be beneficial for you to drive like a little old lady, and I don’t mean the Little Old Lady from Pasadena.
There are, of course, advantages that arise from Department-wide Telematics implementation. Officer safety, for one. Your location is always known in case you get in trouble. On the other hand, your location is always known, which can get you into trouble. The point here is to realize that this electronic tracking exists and make sure that it matches your log.
From a legal standpoint, the Department is creating a potential liability problem for itself by gathering all of this information. It is called Monell liability from the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case of Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York, 436 U.S. 658, which held that municipalities can be held liable just like people. Subsequent cases held cities liable for “deliberate indifference.”
As a practical matter, that means that if the Department has information that officers are overdriving and they do not take action to solve the problem, the Department can be on the hook for major damages. Example: Officer Jones is going over the speed limit and crashes into someone, causing serious injury or death, and the Telematics record of the officer shows that the officer had a track record of speeding and the Department did not take any corrective action to address this. Result: City liability. The Department had knowledge, or could have had knowledge, and through deliberate indifference failed to take action against the officer. Had they taken appropriate action, the plaintiff would not have been injured because the officer would have either learned his or her lesson and driven more carefully or been terminated.
What this means to you is that you can count on the Department paying attention to your speed to limit their liability. They will be held responsible if they don’t, so stand by.
The Department listed objectives of Telematics is to
1) improve fleet management logistics and maintenance,
2) improve driver safety and training,
3) enhance situational awareness of deployed units,
4) augment crime reduction strategies and
5) assist with investigations.
The “assist with investigations” objective requires a comment. When Telematics goes Department-wide, the data will be available to investigators quickly. Your electronically recorded speed, direction, seat belt and emergency light activation will be in the report that FID, MCIT or IA will obtain. You will have access to that data before you are interviewed or before you write a report. Remember that accuracy is your most important product. Insist on seeing the report before you make any statement or write anything.
The aggregate data from all of the Patrol units in the city will be staggering. The Department will be able to see how much Patrol time was spent in each reporting district, how much time your unit was idling, which unit is closest to a hot shot, response times, clustering around doughnut shops, exact route and speed of pursuits, accuracy of logs and other reports, time out of the division, seat belt use and when your brake pads need to be replaced. And then there is body-worn video and digital in-car video. Feeling special?
Realize that you are making an electronic record every time you turn on the ignition of your police vehicle. And…
Be legally careful out there.
