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The Park City Police Participate In Effort To Reduce Number Of Officers Lost In Line Of Duty

below100.org

The Park City Police Department has been participating in a nationwide initiative called Below 100 for about four years. The goal is to get the number of police officers who lose their lives in the line of duty below 100. Melissa Allison has more:

Below 100 got its start in 2010 as a result of a dinner table conversation at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association Conference.

Not since 1943 has there been less than 100 officers who lose their lives in the line of duty, annually. While the program has evolved over the past eight years, the goal has not wavered.

Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter said Park City is not immune.

“There’s been two officers that were killed in the line of duty," Carpenter said. "One, Rodney Schreurs. He was actually directing traffic on Payday on the 4th of July and was hit by a drunk driver and killed. And many of you remember Rick Ryan who was one of our captains with Park City. He also was out on an accident and the driver had hit a moose and the moose was on the hood of the vehicle. He was trying to deal with that and someone was driving too fast, the roads were slick, and they slid into Captain Ryan and pushed him through the windshield.”

Captain Ryan survived the accident and retired this past January after serving the community for 32 years.
Officer Schreurs was 33-years-old when he lost his life on July 4, 1984.

The Below 100 initiative has five tenets. First, to wear their seatbelts, second is to watch their speed. Third is to always wear their bullet-proof vest while in uniform and fourth is an acronym, WIN. It stands for “What’s important now?”

Carpenter said the tenets are crucial to officer safety.

“That mindset is very, very important to be aware and cognizant of the environment that they’re in. And our environment are constantly changing for law enforcement," Carpenter said. "And certainly, we can’t dictate what that environment looks like, but having their mind in the game is a huge part of that. Remembering our fifth point, that complacency kills, and we know that. That when officers fall in a routine or think that something, they’ve done it a million times, and then that next call they go on happens to be on an ambush or something that takes their life. It would obviously be a huge tragedy.”

He said domestic calls and traffic stops are very dangerous for officers because they don’t know what they’re walking up to.

Carpenter encouraged, if you’ve been drinking, to call for a ride. But to also slow down and be aware of what is going on around you.

“We’re really also pushing, very heavily, crosswalks and being aware of pedestrians that are crossing the street," Carpenter said. "We want obviously a bikeable and walkable community and recognize that high speeds on narrow streets are a recipe for disaster.”

The website for Below 100 says, “Good cops will die each year. But working together—and only by working together—we can keep our streets and ourselves safer.”

I’m Melissa Allison, KPCW News.