If only we had more law enforcement officers like Larry Trent, director of the Illinois State Police. He not only has the insight to understand the issues PursuitSAFETY is bringing to the public's attention, he has the courage and ability to call for a stop to a behavior that has cost too many precious lives already. If we had such a "top cop" in my state of Alabama, my son Steven might still be with me.

I was absolutely shaken by Trent's statement that speeding to a call saves maybe 90 seconds in response time for a 10-mile drive. Prorating that to an even smaller distance, it means my son was killed in hopes of saving 30-40 seconds or less. The life of a 20 year old with his whole life ahead of him was given in exchange for a few seconds. Would our police make that deal with the lives of their family members?

Another startling statistic in the article is that 76 percent of drivers do not hear a police siren or see the lights in time to react. The police officer who struck my son's car approached him from behind at night at a high rate of speed. He attempted to pass Steven in a no-passing zone. As Trent said, our roadways are not NASCAR where a driver's reaction to a sudden emergency situation can be predicted. The 22-year-old police officer who killed Steven apparently thought he could predict exactly what Steven would do when suddenly put in that situation.

Steven died Nov. 28, 2007, five days after the Uhl sisters died in Illinois. We have no "Director Trent" to come forward and say, "Steven did not die in vain; I will change things as a result of this." In fact, just the opposite has happened. The City of Springville, Alabama, the community where my son lived his whole life, has not come forward to even say they will review their emergency response or pursuit procedures. Apparently, they are willing to have other families suffer the same tragedy.

Trent is fighting not only a mindset that police have the right to drive fast, but also a desire on the part of some of our officers to drive fast even when the situation just presents an opportunity. I pray that more officers like Trent will come forward and give a voice to victims like Jessica and Kelli Uhl and my son Steven. May God bless Larry Trent.