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New Rules for State Troopers Responding to Calls
State troopers will have to get used to new rules about how they can drive when they're responding to a call. The changes are because of a crash that killed two people: a trooper crossed an interstate highway median in Southern Illinois and killed two teenage girls while responding to a report of an accident with injury.

Trooper Matt Mitchell's reckless homicide case is pending. He was reportedly driving 126 mph when his car crossed Interstate 64 and killed two sisters from Collinsville.

Lt. Scott Compton, a state police spokesman, calls the changes "monumental." Calls designated Code One will require the officer adhere to all traffic laws. Codes Two and Three would allow, respectively, 20 and 30 miles per hour over the limit. A Code Red call would be, for example, an active gunman or officer down. That would allow the trooper to use his or her judgment.

"A supervisor will be monitoring all Code Red situations and responses," Compton says. "Once a Code Red has been completed, there will be a committee that will review each initiation of Code Red to see if it was done properly, accurately, and if it was warranted."

There's no change to the policy on chases: they pursue only for a forcible felony.

(Illinois Radio Network)
11 26 08 by Newsroom
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