Glouco policy orders sirens, lights for speeding police cars

WOODBURY – Three months after a Franklin Township patrol car fatally struck a child, Gloucester County's prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the county's police departments to standardize their response to emergency calls.

The change requires police vehicles to use lights and sirens when exceeding a road's posted speed limit by more than 20 mph, said Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton.

Police departments could impose their own requirement at speeds less than 20 miles per hour over the limit, he said.

The new policy follows a Dec. 28 accident that killed 10-year-old Matthew McCloskey, a Franklinville boy fatally struck by a police car as he tried to run across Delsea Drive around 7 p.m.

Patrolman Nicholas Locilento was responding to a non-emergency call at 74 mph when the accident occurred on a dark, wet road around 7 p.m. The patrol car's flashers and siren were not activated.

A review by Dalton's office cleared the 23-year-old policeman in early January, finding he did not show reckless behavior and broke no criminal law.

It said Matthew and two boys, ages 9 and 12, were in a foot race when they came to the highway.

"The oldest child ran across the street safely and yelled that a car was coming," the statement read. It said Matthew, a fifth-grader at Caroline L. Reutter School, ran into the street and turned toward the cruiser.

"Patrolman Locilento applied his brakes but was unable to avoid impacting the child," the account said.

Dalton at that time said his office would review police policies regarding the use of emergency warning devices.

Dalton did not refer to the accident in a statement announcing the new policy, which is to take effect by May 1.

In a letter to the county's police chiefs, he said the change was intended to "ensure the safety of all citizens" and to "further assist in mutual aid situations involving multiple agency response."

He said the new policy included input from the executive board of the Gloucester County Police Chief Association, the state Department of Criminal Justice and Gloucester County Emergency Services.

Reach Jim Walsh at jwalsh@courierpostonline.com or (856) 486-2646. Tweet him @jimwalsh_cp