Fatal crashes involving lack of seat belts on rise for police in Utah and elsewhere

SALT LAKE CITY — As the number of police officers killed in the line of duty increases, a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests one solution might be as easy as the click of a seat belt.

In the past three decades, the administration says 42 percent of the officers who died in crashes were not wearing seat belts. In Utah, the number is a lot higher.

Utah's Highway Safety office says since 1990, seven of the 10 officers killed in line-of-duty crashes were not wearing seat belts. The figures include a crash that killed North Salt Lake Police officer Charles Skinner in 2008, and a June 2010 crash in which Bureau of Indian Affairs Officer Joshua Yazzie was killed.

"It's the seat belt that's going to save them," said Lt. Wade Breur of Utah's Peace Officers Standards and Training academy. He said it's a point they try to drive home with recruits.

"We train officers, and hopefully agencies are training their officers for ongoing in-service training that if that vehicle is moving, or before the vehicle even moves, put that seat belt on," Breur said.

While he was working for another agency, Breur said he heard some officers complain that seat belts slowed them down, especially when they had to quickly get out of their cars. Others have expressed worries about the belts becoming entangled with the equipment.

Breur said the academy tries to underscore the dangers of such thinking. "(The risk) is quite a bit higher that officers are hurt, many more times so, in car crashes than in gunfire," he said.

Breur said they also try to teach officers who go through intensive driver training not to get complacent. He said they warn offices to be aware of the wrong attitude "because it's that attitude that so many times gets drivers, and police officers especially, in trouble," Breur said.

Seat belt policies are up to individual agencies, but USA Today reports agencies in places like Las Vegas, where three police officers recently died in crashes, the policy is now an aggressive one. Officers who fail to comply can face fines or suspension.