Officers Receive Training In Collision Reconstruction

Motorists traveling on Interstate 91 near exit 46 late Thursday morning must have been startled to see a plethora of emergency vehicles in the parking lot of the former Bernie's store.

The assembly of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances were not there for an actual disaster, but rather for training in collision reconstruction, hosted by the Enfield Police Department and the Metro Traffic Unit in north central Connecticut.

Nearly two dozen officers from as far away as Boston have been involved in a weeklong training series specializing in the forensics of collision scenes, Enfield Sgt. Chuck Grasso said. He said this is the first time this class has been offered in New England; previously, the training has been held at the South Carolina Police Academy and the University of North Florida.

The majority of the training is in the classroom, with a heavy emphasis on mathematics and physics. "Each officer has had 300-400 hours of advanced training prior to today," Grasso said.

The sessions are run by SRR Training, whose owner, Reggie Redfern, lost his son in a 1992 motorcycle accident, Grasso said.

Lead instructor Dale Smith, head of the South Carolina Police Academy traffic training division, has nearly 20 years experience in law enforcement, including 17 in collision reconstruction. He said he particularly enjoys the hands-on collision simulations. "It helps the officers apply what they've learned in the classroom," he said. "I can teach much more out here than in the class."

For the demonstrations, a life-size dummy named Rescue Randy, weighing 185 pounds, was lightly tethered to a cable and propped on its feet by a backhoe. The dummy was then struck by a car traveling about 25 miles per hour.

Officers investigated various aspects of the collision, including skid marks, front-end damage to the vehicle, body position and clothing marks from the victim.

Following  the initial reconstruction, Rescue Randy was struck again, this time while perched atop a bicycle.

The Metro Traffic Unit consists of officers from Enfield, Manchester, South Windsor, East Windsor, Vernon, Glastonbury and Coventry.