Worcester's Police Cruisers And The Carbon Monoxide Concern

WORCESTER, MA—Last week, numerous cruisers in the Austin, TX, police department tested positive for high levels of carbon monoxide in the vehicles. The issue prompted Ford to issue a statement that it would fix any of these Ford Explorer models that are experiencing issues.

On Wednesday, the issue popped up in Massachusetts, with an Auburn officers passing out and crashing into another vehicle because of high levels of carbon monoxide in his Ford Explorer police SUV.
It prompted not only a flurry of media attention, but also concern that swept police departments across the state.

In Worcester, there are approximately 40 Ford Explorer (Interceptor) SUVs in the police department's fleet, the same models that have been reported to have carbon monoxide issues.

The Worcester department ordered battery-powered CO detectors to place in all affected vehicles, at roughly $20-$25 per unit. By Wednesday evening, all of the problematic vehicles had these CO detectors installed in them.

"It appears that Ford Motor Corporation has acknowledged the potential for exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) to officers when operating the Ford Police Interceptor (Explorer) and is the process of correcting the issue," said Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst.

"Safety is our top priority and we are concerned for those involved," said a spokesperson from Ford in response to the Auburn issue. "We are working with the Auburn Police Department and have a team in Massachusetts on the way to inspect their vehicles and modifications made to them. It’s premature to draw conclusions from what happened in Auburn after reports of carbon monoxide at levels of 13 parts per million in the vehicle. According to the Massachusetts Environmental Affairs, ‘most people do not begin to feel the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning until they have been exposed to levels of at least 200 parts per million for several hours or more.’ Given this discrepancy, more investigating is required.”

In the meantime, Hazelhurst explains that while waiting for the issue to be corrected, "one can understand the negative impact on our fleet if our approximately 40 utilities were removed from service for an extended period of time. Therefore, we are in the process of purchasing and field testing CO detectors for our utilities."

In a directive sent to all personnel in the department, Hazelhurst said, "I cannot stress the following points enough. It is important to realize that the human body prefers CO over oxygen and one can be exposed and overcome by CO in a very short period of time without realizing it. CO is odorless, colorless and not irritating. Therefore, for your safety, until the detectors are installed in the Interceptor Utility, please take all precautions to make sure there is a constant flow of fresh air into the passenger cabin. While operating the utility it is important to keep the windows partially open regardless of weather condition. Also, please do not sit in an idling parked utility for any extended period of time without keeping the windows open and periodically exiting and getting fresh air."

Photo via Shutterstock