NCLM Southern City, Volume 74, Issue 3 2024

ast April the League’s Risk Management Services team hosted its annual “Defensive Driving: Slower is Faster” training for police officers in Winston-Salem. This two-day comprehensive course teaches and trains police officers throughout North Carolina how to use their squad vehicles as an effective tool, instead of a liability. Because of our Property & Casualty and Workers’ Compensation insurance pools, the League can offer a unique perspective on the unsafe patterns happening in policing across North Carolina. Our risk management team knows the most common types of claims filed and the highest liability factors in the policing profession. Therefore, the defensive driving course was born. “We’re trying to reduce claims, we’re trying to reduce injuries, lawsuits, all of the basic stuff that you see, unfortunately, happening in the profession,” said Tom Anderson, NCLM director of risk control and public safety risk management. Anderson has over 30 years of combined experience in law enforcement and has seen both sides of the insurance claims process. Over time he’s realized that many of these unfortunate accidents are completely preventable. “The training, the policy and the leadership is a big component of that. When I think of risk management, especially in public safety, it is a leadership priority,” said Anderson. And the leadership of police departments attending the defensive driving course wholeheartedly agrees. This course focuses on training the trainer. It includes a full classroom day where various speakers from the League, the Town of Hillsborough, and the National Law Enforcement Roadway Safety Program presented best practices on defensive driving. The next day, attendees took their fleet cars to the Winston-Salem fairgrounds L RMS UPDATE Slower is Faster NCLM’S “DEFENSIVE DRIVING: SLOWER IS FASTER” HANDS-ON COURSE TRAINS NORTH CAROLINA POLICE OFFICERS IN ADVANCED DRIVING SKILLS, REDUCING ACCIDENTS AND ENHANCING SAFETY. OFFICERS APPLY NEW TECHNIQUES, IMPROVING DRIVING STANDARDS ACROSS THEIR DEPARTMENTS. ISABELLA MORMANDO Communications Associate SOUTHERN CITY Quarter 3 2024 24

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