CMPD Traffic Investigator Program Will Allow Trained Citizens To Respond To Accidents

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  A new law will put trained citizens into action responding to traffic accidents. 

“It will allow the police to respond to more serious matters,” Debbie Shiflett said. 

 It’s part of the CMPD traffic investigator program which allows trained civilians to respond to minor accidents and complete a report that will be treated the same as if they were completed by a law enforcement officer. 

“They would not carry a firearm or have the authority to arrest or write citations and their uniforms and vehicles will clearly distinguish them from police officers,” CMPD Maj. Dave Johnson said. 

In 2022, CMPD responded to 42,000 traffic crashes — an average of 115 per day. 

CMPD is hopeful this program will lessen the burden on law enforcement and allow them to respond to higher priority calls.

“If it’s a bad car accident then of course we need more professionals, but if it’s a fender bender or something that’s not serious I’m all for people volunteering and doing that,” Kim Johnson said. 

Some people said  it could also speed up response times. 

“It would cut back on a lot of the wait time waiting for a police officer to arrive to the scene, as opposed to having a citizen that can do the same thing that the officer can do.”  

However some also say it make take people some time to adjust to a citizen responding instead of an officer 

“You have a lot of people who won’t adjust to that well because you have a private citizen approaching them as opposed to an officer which they have grown accustomed to.”

 All traffic investigators will  spend at least 4 weeks in the field training under a police officer before responding to accidents.