Mayor: Escort Change For Safety

I appreciate the opportunity to address and hopefully explain a recent decision to discontinue police escorts for funeral processions.

I appreciate the tradition of these escorts as much as anyone. Sometimes we have to make unpopular decisions in the interest of public safety. I’m confident I’ve made the right call in supporting our chief’s decision. I can live with people disagreeing with me when I know they at least understand why I’ve arrived at the decision. Please allow me to lay out my reasoning, while knowing at the end of the day we might still disagree.

First of all, Springdale is a much different place, both in population and the makeup of that population, than when many of us were growing up. I’m sure a large portion of our population has no history or awareness of this tradition many of us remember and appreciate.

I’m not only referencing our ethnic diversity, but also the many people who have moved here from around the nation. Add to those a younger generation, many of whom were not taught how to safely and respectfully observe a funeral procession. They all share the road with the rest of us. Like it or not, that’s simply a fact, and no love of a tradition can change that.

Given our city has some of the busiest intersections in the state, the way we’ve been conducting these processions has been very unsafe. Our traffic officers related several close calls and near misses that just happened recently. There are cities all over the country dealing with this issue. Sadly, many cities are making this decision only after a tragedy occurs. I couldn’t live with myself if something similar was to happen after the chief and her officers warned me that this practice endangers the public.

It has been mentioned other cities in the area are continuing with the escorts. We are not responsible for dealing with safety issues in other communities. Those are risks each city must consider for itself. I will say that of the 10 largest cities in Arkansas, we are the seventh to discontinue this practice.

Let me explain the way we’ve been leading these processions. We can usually use our two traffic officers and sometimes are able to free up a few other officers if they are not tied up with other calls. An officer uses his car to block traffic in an intersection. He then has to determine how much time he has before he needs to leave that intersection, pass all the vehicles and arrive at the next intersection in time to get the traffic stopped. Many times, depending on the length of the procession, he has to leave cars that are still going through the last intersection unprotected to get to the next light in time.

To continue these escorts as safely as possible, we would have to be able to put an officer at each intersection.

For some funerals, depending on the route and length of the procession, that could require as many as 18 oft cers. That’s more than an entire shift. We assisted with more than 200 escorts just last year. Even if we dug deep and decided we could pay overtime for off -duty oft cers to come in, it’s questionable whether we could gather the needed manpower. You would also still have the safety issue of ushering cars through a red light at our busiest intersections. I’m convinced the safest way for mournersto get to the gravesite is to travel on their own, observing all traffic laws and then meeting at the cemetery.

Let me remind you also that if the funeral directors want to conduct these processions or hire a private firm to do so, that’s fi ne.

They will need to have purple flashing lights on the lead car, and every car in the procession has to be marked. (I think having their flashers on would be suftcient; keep in mind, nowadays many cars have their headlights on already, adding to the confusion to fellow motorists.) The procession must also obey all traffic laws, including red lights. This is all in state law.

Again, this issue is not about lack of respect for the deceased. It’s about safety for all the people who travel our streets. As much as I hate to see these escorts discontinued, we simply can’t put tradition, no matter how loved, above safety to the public. For that reason, unless or until these safety issues can be properly addressed, I will continue to support the chief’s decision to discontinue the escorts.

DOUG SPROUSE HAS SERVED AS MAYOR OF SPRINGDALE SINCE 2009. HE WAS ELECTED TO A SECOND FOUR-YEAR TERM LAST YEAR.