Dec 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 12

GUEST COMENTARY
Stephen Owsinski
Troopers Brimming with Bravery
Although there is a severe
shortage of law enforcement
officers, there is no deficiency
in the requisite bravery of our
troopers out there combatting
crime amid perilous velocity of
traffic…with the safety of everyone
as the staple ingredient, despite
the risk to their own lives.
With several major holidays
in the last quarter of 2023,
safe-driving campaigns kick it
up a few notches, with state police
organizations and troopers
trying to blanket the thoroughfares
with cruisers to be seen
and heeded. The visual reminder
for all motorists: Driving, although
heralding freedom and
fun, is not to be taken lightly and
ill-concentrated.
With Florida’s burgeoning
population of those who fled
states that watered crops of
anarchy, it is increasingly palpable
and death-defying to go out
and about in automobiles for the
continuum of sustenance and
life choices. In that regard, traffic
crashes are a dime a dozen, each
requiring a law enforcement
officer to piece together a chain
of events and map out the entire
scene, thereafter documenting
details in a police report.
Every cadet selected to train at
the police academy undergoes
intense blocks of traffic crash
investigations training, mandated
by the respective state Criminal
Justice Standards and Train-
ing Commission (CJSTC). All
the nuances in this form of law
enforcement responsibility are
studied until blue in the face.
Once state-certified by the
CJSTC and out there doing The
Job, in-service courses are
offered in advanced studies
such as Traffic Fatality Investigations
(formerly known as
Traffic Homicide Investigation or
THI). These specialized courses
engender principles pertinent
to automobile maneuverability
—centripetal force and centrifugal
force— and are convened
for extraordinary traffic investigations
involving the deaths of
motor vehicle occupants and/or
pedestrians.
Although the advent of drones
helps law enforcement by safeguarding
investigators photographing/mapping
scenes aerially,
supplanting the former
method of law enforcement
officers physically standing in
a traffic crash scene, they still
largely exit police cruisers and
risk getting bowled over by any
22 The Blues 40th Anniversary Issue