"This is a topic that we will be talking about in our command staff meeting," Peschong said in an email Thursday.

Of the 20 people killed in motor vehicle accidents in Nebraska so far this year, 16 were not wearing seatbelts, according to state fatality records.

On average, Zwonecek said, 70 percent of those who die in passenger vehicle accidents in the state aren't buckled up. That's despite annual scientific studies that show Nebraska's seatbelt usage rates hover at 84 to 85 percent, he said.

Peschong said he would "not be so naive" as to think all of his officers wore seatbelts in their cruisers.

But the department's standards of conduct include a requirement that all employees be belted in while operating or riding in vehicles leased or owned by the city.

When that rule was created decades ago, Peschong was one of many to complain that seatbelts would snag on officers' gear, or that unbuckling a belt could squander valuable seconds when responding to emergencies.

"The comments of seatbelts being restrictive … were lame excuses used by my generation 30-plus years ago," he said.