Despite Recent Officer Deaths, CHP Unlikely to Change Policies

In the past few weeks, five California Highway Patrol officers have died in the line of duty. "Three of the five were struck and killed while performing traffic stops on California freeways," notes the SGV Tribune.

However, the CHP says they aren't likely to make any policy changes regarding how and where they pull over motorists on the freeway, and instead are turning to the public--the drivers--to ask they drive responsibly. That includes obeying the law and heeding the flashing lights of the CHP vehicle, which signals motorists should slow down and/or make a lane change.

While officers are trained to not turn their backs to approaching traffic, accidents, like the ones that claimed the lives of Officers Philip Ortiz, Brett Oswald, and Justin McGrory, happen in just a moment's time. Says Capt. Dan Minor of the CHP's Santa Fe Springs office:

If there's a good thing out of the fact that these five officers lost their lives, it is that maybe it will get the public to recognize the dangerous job that we do and it will get their attention and (make them) think about their own driving habits and see what they can do to avoid it from happening.