Beginning Aug. 1, the Washington State Patrol launched its new Hit-and-Run Alert System, a program to help law enforcement agencies identify and recover fleeing vehicles involved in a serious or fatal hit-and-run collision, according to a WSP release.
The program is run in cooperation with state, local and tribal enforcement agencies, along with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“Last year, our state saw over 300 hit-and-run collisions resulting in serious injury or death,” WSP Chief John R. Batiste stated in the release. “In many of those situations, information about the fleeing vehicle was available that, if widely disseminated, might have helped us find a dangerous driver.”
Clark County Sheriff’s Office PIO Chris Skidmore said the new alert system will be advantageous to local law enforcement agencies.
“It gives us another tool in order to kind of immediately locate a hit-and-run driver, and it should be said, too, that it can only be used in … something that either results in serious injury or death,” Skidmore said. “If you just get a fender bender, you know, like someone comes into you and you go to pull over and they drive away, that’s not what it’ll be used for.”
In order for the alert to be activated, WSP states the following criteria must be met:
The alert system will work by sending out alerts to the media, as well as to people who receive them electronically. Local law enforcement public information officers will also post them on social media. If enough information is available, WSDOT will use its electronic highway Variable Message Signs and Highway Advisory Radio systems in specific locations to aid in identifying a dangerous vehicle, the release explains.
Skidmore said the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies have a traffic homicide unit that will benefit from the alert system.
“The vehicle is a big portion of it because the vehicle can tell a lot of the story about what we’re looking for in a crash, and most people have some remnants of their involvement in their own vehicle,” Skidmore said.
The WSP release reminds people that if they come across a possible suspect vehicle to not engage and call 911 and report the location.
Skidmore stressed the importance of people being accountable for actions committed, adding hit-and-run collisions are often the result of the driver having no insurance or an unregistered vehicle. Kinlaw said those offenses result in small fines compared with a felony offense.
“So, instead of being indicted for not having motor vehicle insurance, now you’re getting arrested and going to jail because you have a felony hit and run with injury or death,” Skidmore said.
