CPS vehicles record more than one collision per day

Crash involving a CPS vehicle on 36 Street Northeast. The officer, while en route to a call and on their computer, drove through a red light.

From minor dings to serious write-offs, Calgary Police vehicles hit something or were hit at least once for every day of the year in 2014.

Data compiled through Freedom of Information Requests show that CPS vehicles were in 397 crashes in 2012 – that’s roughly 35 per cent of the CPS vehicle fleet.

The numbers dropped off slightly in 2013 and last year police were in 368 collisions –- equal to about 32 per cent of their fleet.

CPS vehicles are in more collisions than police in Montreal and Edmonton (though Edmonton’s data does not include civillians who crash police cars), but fewer than Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg Police.

In Winnipeg, Police crashed 236 times last year – representing about 64 per cent of its fleet.

Police in Winnipeg say it’s numbers include vandalism, which may skew their data higher, because many of their vehicles park outside.

“Cars parked in public access areas have always been a high target for damage,” said Winnipeg Police Sgt. Nick Paulet.

Policing can undoubtedly be dangerous. On Tuesday a stolen truck slammed into a police cruiser during a traffic stop -– in other scenarios police will make contact on purpose, but cases like that are relatively rare.

Just 21 per cent of CPS vehicles damaged last year were en route to a call. Statistics show police are more likely to hit something or be hit in a parking lot.

Raynald Marchand, of the Canada Safety Council, told CTV News that police forces should constantly be assessing their driving.

“It’s hazard number one,” he said.

Internally, the CPS has been aware of that hazard. A 2011 a memo from Deputy Chief Trevor Daroux warned of “significant risk” caused by officers driving at “unwarranted travel speed that is careless and dangerous in nature.”

In 2012, then-Chief Rick Hanson told staff he was getting complaints about officers “speeding, failing to stop, texting while driving and conducting unsafe traffic stops.”

An internal audit last year found that 61 per cent of CPS collisions were preventable, but under current policy, not all accidents were reviewed.

Rather than write tickets to officers for poor driving, the CPS gives “internal demerit points” to its officers, but a CTV News investigation in March found that bad driving alone doesn’t warrant one –- points are reserved only for crashes.

“I would suggest that probably our internal process is more robust and has more implications than anything the public would get,” said CPS Spokesperson Kevin Brookwell during an interview in March.

According to a CPS driving policy document, if police are at at all responsible for a preventable accident, they should be given between 1 and 4 demerit points. But, nearly half of the vehicles involved in preventable crashes in 2014, were given no demerits.

In February 2014, an officer was en route to a call, turning east onto 17Ave SE. According to police, the vehicle was going just 20 km/h when it lost control on pea gravel and spun onto a bus bench. The estimated damage was pegged at $3925 and the vehicle was a write-off. The driver didn’t get any demerit points.

In March 2014 a driver got out of his car on Deerfoot to deal with some road debris. The vehicle was left in reverse and hit a concrete barrier. Again, no demerit points.

In June, an officer en route to a call was on the computer inside of the vehicle, when it blasted through a red light smashing into an SUV. The driver got four demerit points –- not enough to prompt mandatory driver re-training or a suspension.

The Calgary Police declined an on-camera interview, but in a statement said it has a driver safety program that includes training and collision review and feels that program is “one of the most thorough and effective to address police driver behavior.”