Sgt. Dan Munford has been with the MSU police department for 19 years, serving as the night shift supervisor for road patrol and the assistant team commander for the Ingham Regional Crash Investigation Team, or IRCI.
“We have 34 officers that are trained to investigate crashes, take a look at them and pretty much be able to figure out what happened with them,” Munford said. "They come from six different departments ... the Michigan State University Police Department, the Lansing Police Department, the East Lansing Police Department, the Meridian Township Police Department, Lansing Township Police Department and the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office.”
When a fatal or serious injury crash occurs in the jurisdiction of one of the six departments, they can call in IRCI to help determine the cause of the crash and clear the roadways quickly, Munford said.
"We can clear the scenes quicker, we can split up the workload so everybody works together to get things opened up faster so we don’t have roadways closed down," Munford said. "A regular accident report or crash report could take one person a long time to do, but when you split up what they’re supposed to be doing out there, everybody just gets done faster.”
Munford believes communication is an integral part of the IRCI.
"It’s constantly ongoing where I’m in communication with my people," Munford said. "We make sure people know what’s going on."
As assistant commander, all cases investigated by the IRCI go through Munford.
"I’m the one that takes care of the statistics, I’m the one that takes and deploys officers out,” Munford said. "That way I get to stay in the loop."
MSU police has specialized equipment that no one else in the IRCI has.
They have a crash data retrieval unit, which can record data for up to seven seconds before a crash occurred and can tell the officers if seatbelts were engaged and what speed the car was traveling at, among other things, Munford said.
MSU police also has a 3-D scanner that captures 360 degrees of a crime or crash scene, Munford said.
“When we’re done it gives us this amazing 3-D picture that we can maneuver around," Munford said.
Working with IRCI creates a challenge for Munford.
“It’s like doing a big puzzle and trying to put a puzzle together," Munford said. "It’s not fun because we’re only investigating those on serious injuries or fatal accident but at the same time you get kind of a good feeling like, ‘Wow, this turned out pretty good.'”
Munford said he believes the IRCI has been beneficial for all departments involved.
“This right here has been a godsend for so many departments," Munford said. “I’m superstitious, I believe that when you’ve got a good thing you praise it and you build it up.”
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