Squad car in accident?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
September 29, 2009

Was a Woodstock police car involved in an accident in the Wal-mart parking lot last week?

A tip reached me today that, indeed, one was.

I don't recall seeing any mention of it in the Northwest Herald, and no press release is posted on the Police Department webpages.

Police officers are human; they are behind the wheel for many hours in a month. They may not drive many miles; the entire department averages only 30,000 miles/month (16-month average); that's 1,000 miles/day. Three shifts: thus, 333 miles/shift. Four-five officers per shift? An officer might drive 50-75 miles on his shift. Some more; some less.

But an officer has a lot to do while he's driving: watching traffic; watching people; reading the computer; listening to the police radio and using it; talking on his cell phone.

So, what happened in the Wal-mart parking lot? Did a driver back out of a parking space and into the squad car? Did it happen in a turn? At a stop sign? Was anyone ticketed?

By the way, is there a Vehicular Control Agreement in effect on the Wal-mart parking lot? Such an Agreement allows the police department to enforce traffic laws on private property.