Forty-nine police officers from 22 police departments representing both Schuylkill and Berks County met at Hamburg Area High School on Tuesday, March 24, to participate in the Below 100 Program that aims to reduce the line-of-duty deaths of police officers to less than 100 per year.
“I think it is important because it emphasizes Officer safety using common sense,” said Joe O’Donnell, a retired Police Officer from the City of Pottsville and Traffic Safety Coordinator for North Central Highway Safety.
According to the program website, below100.com, the initiative came to be due to a conversation around a dinner table at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association Conference in April 2010. With support of the National Tactical Officers Association, the program has been able to offer these classes across the country.
The program states that the last time the number of line-of-duty officer deaths was below 100 was in 1944. A high of 278 line-of-duty deaths was reached in 1974 and in the past five years the total has been between 116 and 185 with 2010 totaling more than 160. Broken down, in the last ten years more than 150 officers have died on average in the line-of-duty a year.
Below 100 Program focuses on a review of data that indicates many of the deaths are due to officer negligence or carelessness such as driving too fast for conditions, inattention and/or not wearing a seat belt. A National Highway Traffic Safety Association report showed that nearly half of the officers killed in 733 fatal crashes were not wearing their seat belts. This is just one of the examples the program uses for how officers can help lower the number of deaths in the line-of-duty.
“We have identified five key tenets by which we can improve officer safety – areas where we can make a difference,” states the website. “Below 100 isn’t about statistics. It’s about each and every officer, trainer and supervisor taking individual and collective responsibility for the decisions and actions that contribute to safety.”
Berks County departments in attendance for the four hour program were Amity, Bally, Birdsboro, Caernarvon, Central Berks, Exeter, Fleetwood, Hamburg, Kutztown Borough, Northern Berks Regional, Oley, Berks PSU, Reading, Shillington, Tilden, West Reading and Pennsylvania State Police Troop L. Schuylkill County departments participating were Butler Township, Frackville, Mahanoy Township, Pottsville and Tamaqua.
For more information on the program, visit below100.com.
