Each month, the Police Chief provides IACP members with insights into emerging law enforcement issues, such as the threat posed by weapons of mass effect or the latest advances in forensic technology, keeping us up-to-date on the cutting edge of policing and providing perspectives on the new leadership challenges we all face. Although each of these issues is significant, it is also absolutely imperative that we not forget the critical importance of our more traditional law enforcement responsibilities, such as promoting highway safety and reducing the number of people killed or injured on our roads and highways.

There is little doubt that some of the most costly problems we face are the loss of lives, the amount of personal injury and suffering, increased health-care costs, and financial losses due to damage to property caused by traffic crashes. In the United States alone, these incidents kill an average of five people every hour. Crashes result in nearly 1,400 emergency room visits every hour and cost the U.S. economy more than $150 billion a year.