My Nonprofit Reviews

I joined LAPD reserves in 1992, working in LAPD's field jail. While I attended Univ of Southern Cal, I was approached by a Professional Engineer who needed someone to provide mainframe programming and to help him with field support for his automotive collision reconstruction discipline. That was my first taste of trying to methodically undo a mess of mangled metal to find out what happened. Sometimes his services are hired years after the crash, when all that's left to work with are photographs, memories, and a report.

Fast forward to 2003. I transferred to West Traffic Division (WTD), which is responsible, among other duties, to investigate traffic collisions 24/7/365 in a 124-square mile portion of Los Angeles. After WTD provided the 40 hours of POST approved collision investigation (CI) training needed to qualify as a collision investigator, I began investigating West Bureau traffic collisions.

Through the generous assistance of the Reserve Foundation, I continued advancing in the CI field. The Reserve Foundation paid the tuition for me to attend "speed from crush", "auto vs. pedestrian", "auto vs. bicycle", and other advanced CI training, totaling 303 hours. That's over 7 times the minimum training hours required!

Even though I "contribute" time away from my full-time job and "contribute" lodging and meal expenses, the Foundation's continuing generous assistance in covering conference fees allows me to attend the Crash Safety Institute's 5-day collision conference every year.

This conference attracts international attendees and guest speakers, perhaps because the first day features live crash testing. Some of the tests even have live volunteers on-board, donning accelerometers and other instruments strapped to their bodies. Test results from Day 1's live crash testing are analyzed the next 3 days.

I've completed 2500+ collision investigations so far at WTD, ranging from simple hit-and-runs to fatalities. I am one of just six collision reconstructionists at WTD. I am flattered to be asked by officers to opine or review a report they've written.

The Foundation's continuing support is crucial in allowing me to attend reconstruction courses and crash conferences. This pays itself forward; it allows me to stay current, to enhance competency, to offer credible opinions and advice to others and also to conduct higher-level investigations myself.

The ultimate benefactors are the citizens and visitors of Los Angeles, which all reserves have committed to and have sworn to protect and to serve.