I-Team 8: In the Danger Zone

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WISH) - Last fall, the Federal Highway Administration passed new safety regulations. Anyone working along the nation's highways must wear a special type of reflective vest. Police spent a lot of your money buying the vests. So why are officers sometimes not wearing them? I-Team 8 went looking for answers.

Since last November, federal regulations require people working along busy roadways to wear the bright, day-glow yellow reflective vests which sometime feature breakaway panels so rescuers don’t get hung up on wreckage during a rescue. They’re designed to make highway workers, police officers and tow truck drivers stand out while directing traffic or investigating accidents.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Department bought vests for every officer and conducted more training after Deputy Sara Jones was killed in October. She was hit by a driver while directing traffic around a vehicle stuck in a ditch. Jones had a vest in her patrol car, but she wasn't wearing it.

The death of a deputy shows just how much of a safety issue this is, not only for all of us who drive, but also for those sworn to protect us.

“They know it's a safety factor, they knew we lost a deputy,” said Chief Deputy Mike Pershing of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. “But this is also prevention, just like carrying their sidearm.”

We wanted to see if officers are complying with the new rules. We watched from the air, from the ground, at accident scenes and traffic stops. Sometimes police were wearing the vests, sometimes they weren't.

Members of the news media have to wear the vests while working along the highway. Not just news reporters, but news photographers too.

The vests cost about $70 each. Indianapolis Metro Police used a $50,000 federal grant to make sure every officer has one while working in traffic, or as IMPD's own regulation states, "...any other activity that requires an officer to be in or near a roadway."

That's why we wondered why some officers weren't immediately putting on the vests at accident scenes.

“That's common sense, said IMPD Lt. Jeff Duhamell. Of course if you pull up on an accident you're first going to render safety to those individuals to make that scene safe, and then when you get time, get that vest on immediately so that traffic can see you.”

And we wondered why Indiana State Troopers weren't wearing them when making traffic stops.

“With them being very limited time or very limited contact outside the vehicle, the protection of their vehicle, our department just felt it wasn't necessary for them to wear it for the everyday traffic stop,” explained Sgt. Anthony Emery of the Indiana State Police.

We even saw one state trooper near his motorcycle walking into interstate traffic in a speed trap. He wasn’t wearing a vest and had no protection inside his vehicle. We also found out IMPD doesn't make officers wear their vests for traffic stops if they're working from their patrol cars.

"Something like that we're not going to put those on, traffic stops, usually they don't take very much time,” says Lt. Duhamell. “However, if it could be a long-term deal where you're going to be towing the vehicle, we're asking the officers at that point to don the vest.

We also captured an incident on video which wasn't a routine stop, it was an arrest along I-70. The tow truck driver towing away the car wore a vest, the IMPD officer didn't.

The original federal rule called for the vests to be worn at all times. But when police agencies warned that vests could be dangerous to an officer's safety, the federal rule was modified. An officer doesn't know what danger might be sitting behind the wheel, so in Monroe County, deputies aren't allowed to wear the vests for traffic stops.

“No," said Chief Deputy Pershing. “Because it just makes a big target, they become a glowing target -- especially at night.”

“There will be some instances, say if we have a felony stop or a hostage situation or something happens really quick, we're not going to call a time out and go back and get our safety apparel," says ISP’s Emery.

If an officer doesn't wear a vest when they should, there could be penalties. In Monroe County, deputies face discipline ranging from a verbal warning to suspension. State and federal safety regulators can levy fines against highway workers or police if they're not wearing vests when they should be.