Charlotte's streets, often veiled in the tedious aftermath of minor car crashes, are set to witness a shift in the tides of traffic control as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department heralds the inauguration of the Civilian Crash Investigation Unit (CCI). This innovative squad, composed not of standard officers but of civilians rigorously trained in the art of crash reportage, sets its sights on minor vehicular mishaps devoid of injuries, as per a statement obtained by the CMPD's announcement.
In a city where slight collisions constituted "an astonishing 71% of all crash reports" over the last three years, the need for such a unit was keen, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings articulated, noting that the presence of CCIs will not only alleviate the load shouldered by patrol officers but simultaneously curtail the waiting periods for participants in these disheartening incidents, emboldening the service quality offered to the community, an aspect the CMPD holds in high esteem. In 2022, the officers had their hands full with 29,994 crash reports for minor crashes that ensnared them in 41,678 service hours, 2023 saw a slight dip with 29,715 reports accounting for 40,324 hours, while 2024 thus far has tracked officers composing 25,973 reports and investing 35,301 hours into this recurring task, according to the CMPD.
Endowed with distinctive high-visibility uniforms stepping away from the customary police garb, CCIs will glide through the city in stark white Ford F-150 Lightning and Hybrid pickup trucks bedecked with amber lights and proudly bearing their unit's moniker. Strapped with body-worn cameras, these civilian sleuths hold themselves to the same stringent standards set for their sworn counterparts and are primed to summon backup in the murkier scenarios encompassing suspected DWI, hit-and-runs, or any insinuation of malfeasance, as outlined in the department's report.
The genesis of the CCI's expertise is a six-week intensive program marrying two weeks of classroom pedagogy with a quartet of weeks dedicated to field apprenticeship, a regimen fifteen intrepid candidates endured to achieve state certification. The innovative strategy to dispatch CCIs on Charlotte’s thoroughfares springs from House Bill 140, sanctioned into law by Gov. Roy Cooper on June 23, 2023, and put into practice starting July of that year, similar visions have been conjured in North Carolinian cities like Wilmington, Greensboro, and Burlington. With the CMPD's sights set on magnifying the CCI contingent post an inaugural triumphant tenure, they yearn for the necessary fiscal nod in the upcoming FY26 budget proposal.
For citizens hungry for further enlightenment regarding this program, CMPD extends an invitation to plunge into a digital repository of wisdom housed within the MyCMPD app, where educational videos and answers to fervently asked questions lay in wait—download and explore the app to unearth an overarching video brief or to absorb a simulated crash investigation demonstration through the following links provided by the CMPD's announcement.
