2012 Safer Way Award News Release

PursuitSAFETY recognizes officers and law enforcement departments/agencies that set into motion innovative ways to avoid police pursuits and yet bring about the apprehension of the suspect(s).

March 31, 2012, is the deadline for submitting nominations for the 2012 Safer Way Award: Please download the guidelines and nomination form (pdf). Completed applications may be submitted two ways:
1. Electronically to Chief Rich Schardan at saferwayaward@charter.net
2. Or, U.S. Mail to Chief Rich Schardan, Maryville Police Department, 2500 N. Center Street, Maryville, IL 62062

Voices Insisting on PursuitSAFETY, a national nonprofit public safety organization, is pleased to announce the second year of the PursuitSAFETY Safer Way Award. This award program recognizes police officers and law enforcement agencies that set into motion innovative ways to avoid police pursuits and yet bring about the apprehension of the suspect(s). This could be a creative method of apprehending a known driver or suspect(s) without a pursuit or the changing of an agency’s policy and/or training practices. The information in the nomination form helps to determine the winner of The Safer Way Award for 2012, which will be based on the achievements prior to and through the year 2011.

PursuitSAFETY thanks the Highway Safety Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police for judging the nominees for 2012. The Committee invites all applications for this recognition. The Safer Way Award winner will be announced by October 2012. The deadline for submitting your nomination form is March 31, 2012.

The PursuitSAFETY Safer Way Award will be given to a law enforcement department and agency, and involved officers will be recognized.

Instructions are available with the downloadable nomination form.

Please contact Police Chief Richard Schardan, Maryville, Illinois, Police Department at saferwayaward@charter.net, if you have any questions or need further assistance.

The Safer Way Award Criteria
Drivers who flee are not thinking about the safety of others. So the burden, by necessity, falls on law enforcement to protect innocent bystanders and themselves. The Safer Way Award program recognizes police officers and law enforcement departments/agencies working for a safer way, i.e., thinking outside the box to save and, ultimately, to protect the lives of innocent bystanders as well as police officers. They do this by:

• Implementing well-defined pursuit policies, requiring more training, enforcing accountability, supervision, and demonstrating excellence in vehicular police pursuit and response-call training or

• Choosing not to engage in vehicular police pursuits but still apprehend suspect(s) by employing good detective work; issuing warrants for known drivers who flee; and utilizing technology and communication networks.

Evaluation Criteria
Officer nominees will be evaluated for overall achievement toward averting or stopping a police pursuit and
apprehending the suspect another way. Departments and agencies will be evaluated for the overall success of its policy, training and supervision. Criteria for selection includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Development of a new or innovative approach or technique to bring about the apprehension of a suspect
without a police pursuit

• Leadership in establishing community-based awareness campaigns about the inherent risk of chases

• Institute a drivers’ education component about police pursuits for pre-teen and teen drivers

• Innovative research that demonstrates other ways to apprehend drivers who flee

The Safer Way Award will be given to a law enforcement department and agency, and the involved officers will be recognized.

Eligibility
Any accredited law enforcement department or agency and officers may apply for this award.

Application Guidelines and Required Documents
In addition to the nomination form page 3 (pdf), the following documents are required:

• Describe what the officer(s) or agency has done to deserve recognition. Include a one-page executive summary of how the actions of the officer(s) and/or agency impacted the actions of other officers.
• If nominee is an officer(s), provide their law enforcement background and philosophy regarding
vehicular police pursuits (police pursuits and police response calls).
• If nominee is a department or agency, describe service area, number of citizens served, number of officers and other pertinent background information, such as crime statistics.
• Describe officer(s) or the department’s professional associations and memberships as well as community
and/or youth program involvement (list for each officer nominated)
• Attach news articles and/or links to news media stories for consideration

Completed applications may be submitted two ways:

Electronically to: saferwayaward@charter.net

U.S. Mail to:

Chief Rich Schardan
Maryville Police Department
2500 N. Center Street
Maryville, IL 62062

A PursuitSAFETY volunteer + an idea = The Safer Way Award

Volunteer Michelle Toon submitted the idea and a proposal for The Safer Way Award to PursuitSAFETY in 2009. The PursuitSAFETY Advisory Board immediately supported Michelle's idea. Everyone understands why this award is needed: to save the lives of innocent bystanders and police officers. In 2010, Michelle became involved with PursuitSAFETY after the death of her uncle, Johnny Kallmeyer, an innocent bystander, killed as a result of a police pursuit in Ohio, September 2, 2007. Police Chief Richard Schardan began serving on PursuitSAFETY's Advisory Board. He asked the IACP for its help.