NJ To Review State Police Executive Protection Driving Policies

Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police announced today that he has asked the NJ Attorney General “to undertake a critical review of the practices of our Executive
Protection Unit (EPU) with regard to vehicular transportation of those
officials with state troopers as drivers.”

In light of the information that is starting to come out regarding this accident, that’s an excellent idea.

Colonel Fuentes and AG Rabner, I hope you’ll allow me to put in my two cents, even though no one asked me but that’s never stopped me before.

So here’s my input to your review:

First, everyone wears seat belts, no exceptions.

Second, you can only drive so fast for so long before the threat of an accident becomes a greater danger than the one your State Police Executive Protection detail is protecting you from. That’s the second point for your revised policy and procedures manual.

Despite what Capt. Al Della Fave of the NJSP said regarding SUVs “operate in all terrains. They won’t get bogged down.” “They are heavier and can withstand a crash better,” get rid of the SUV. 

Bogged down? Where are you taking him, to a tar pit?  When it comes to Executive Protection there are a variety of considerations when it comes to selecting a vehicle but getting “bogged down” is rarely one of them.

There are times when an SUV is appropriate but based on the publicly available information in this situation, this isn’t one of them. An SUV simply can not maneuver as well as a sedan particularly at higher rates of speed or under an emergency driving condition requiring braking, skid or traction control. Another consideration is the increased vehicle profile that an SUV presents as opposed to a sedan.
 
Finally when it comes to weight as a means of protection in an accident, like they say back home “that dog don’t hunt.” Weight in this case simply means you have a heavier object in motion, not greater protection. Memo to Capt. Fave, an armored sedan is pretty darn heavy

I’d also suggest you review your Executive Protection driver training program (you do have one, don’t you?) as part of your overall review. Oh yeah, presumably that executive protection specific drivers training program includes driving an SUV and includes all of the accident avoidance and evasive driving skills performed in a SUV?

Also, what’s this about driving with your hazard lights on to keep traffic away? If you want to keep traffic away, use your emergency lights.

Anyway, this could go but hopefully the fact that I’m not from NJ won’t stop you from considering my views.

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