ORLANDO, Fla. – The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) is starting up a pilot program that allows troopers to virtually investigate some crashes.
During a meeting Thursday, the CFX Board approved the Florida Highway Patrol Desk Trooper concept.
During the two-year pilot, FHP will provide two dedicated Desk Troopers during peak rush-hour times Monday thru Friday.
“It’s using technology to allow our trooper to work a crash via smart phone,” Lt. Col. Mark Brown said. “These are for your fender benders in stop-and-go traffic, when they just need a report for insurance and then we can get them on their way.”
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Brown said the program would be beneficial because FHP’s call volume and low staffing can lead to higher response times and increased workload on troopers.
“It is a longstanding issue that in the Orlando area it can be anywhere from 30 minutes on a good day to multiple hours on a bad day,” Brown said.
According to FHP, a study in 2023 found when a Desk Trooper was involved, the average time to clear a crash scene reduced to under 14 minutes.
For a crash to qualify for the program, there must be no injuries, no roadblock and not be part of a hit-and-run. There also must be no involvement of a commercial vehicle, potential DUI, or other criminal violations.
If all the criteria are met, a dispatcher will transfer the parties to a Desk Trooper and everyone involved would need to agree to participate in the program.
“They would send you a link to your smart phone. You would click on it and then it would connect the trooper and you would have to give certain permissions to allow them to use your camera,” Brown said.
The Desk Trooper would conduct interviews through a video call and use the smart phone’s camera to take images of driver’s licences, license plates and damage to vehicles.
FHP plans to roll the program out on CFX roads this summer.
“By doing this, if we can free up someone’s day by 30 minutes, an hour, sometimes three hours, I think that’s really the goal,” Brown said.
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