FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, please contact:
Terri Durdaller
Communication Director
Work:(573) 751-4819
Cell: (573) 301-2023

Dramatic Move Over Video Available on DPS Web Site

JEFFERSON CITY, June 15, 2006-A new video available on the Department of Public Safety Web site shows the deadly threat that police officers, emergency workers and highway construction crews face on a daily basis: Unpredictable drivers.

The 14-minute video Your Vest Won’t Stop This Bullet, produced by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, includes real footage of police officers struck by inattentive drivers. It also gives startling facts such as a vehicle traveling at 65 mph can cover 286 feet in only three seconds, leaving police officers and those they pull over on the roadways little time to react to careless and all too often deadly drivers.

Loss of life is precisely why the Missouri State Highway Patrol launched the Move Over campaign in 2005 after Corporal Jay Sampietro became the fourth Patrol member killed while performing traffic duties since 2002. The Move Over campaign aims to both educate motorists and increase law officers’ enforcement of the Missouri law requiring drivers to slow their vehicle down and to move over when safe to do so when approaching emergency vehicles on the highways.

Your Vest Won’t Stop This Bullet tells drivers to pay attention and officers to take five precautions during a traffic stop. The first deals with stop location; officers should try to avoid stopping motorists at blind curbs, hillcrests, hidden areas or areas with narrow or non-existent shoulders. Secondly officers should be aware of surrounding traffic; more often officers with more experience and familiarity with the area end up making judgment errors because they are too comfortable in the situation. In addition, officers should always find an escape route for the traffic stop. After the enforcement they should enter traffic safely and, lastly, officers should pack the trunk of their cars in order to avoid explosions caused by fuel tank piercing.

The video, dedicated to the more than 700 law enforcement officers who have died during traffic incidents in the past ten years, will be posted on the Missouri Department of Public Safety Web site at www.dps.mo.gov.

The Move Over campaign is a collaborative effort between Missouri law enforcement agencies including the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Police Chiefs’ Association and the Missouri Sheriffs’ Association.

Reprint permission for the video Your Vest Won’t Stop This Bullet was granted to the Department of Public Safety’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Program by Richard J. Ashton of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.