The Petal Board of Aldermen recently approved an agreement with Carfax – the Centreville, Virginia-based company that provides vehicle data such as Vehicle History Reports to individuals and businesses – to utilize that service as an investigative tool for motor vehicle crashes.
The measure was approved at a board meeting earlier this month, where Matthew Hiatt. who serves as chief of the Petal Police Department, said residents will not be on the hook for any costs related to the program. It will function much the same way as the regular Carfax program, in which motorists are able to look up background information on their vehicles.
“Carfax for police is kind of more integrated toward what we do day to day,” Hiatt said. “One thing it’s going to aid us in, is if a citizen is involved in an accident report, we’re going to submit that report to Carfax and then the individual involved in that can go straight to them to get that report.
“They can still go to the police department to get it, but individuals can choose to go to (www.carfax.com) to get it, and the fee would be the same, whether they come here to get it or go there. It’s maybe going to cut down on some of the volume and foot traffic that comes in to the police department.”
The police version of Carfax also offers features such as a partial plate database, which allows law enforcement to search for vehicles with limited information that may have been involved in a crime.
“More times than not, we don’t get a full description of the vehicle, or maybe we just get a partial plate (number),” Hiatt said. “Well, we can just enter that into this Carfax database, and they’ll just continuously search and search.
“So if we knew it was a white Chevrolet Tahoe, and all we had was partial plates, we could search it until we had some options to go to on that. And the officers, when it comes to working wreck reports, can do that on the mobile app, so we can do it out there in the field without having to get out pen and paper, so it can get done in a timely matter and they can get back on patrol.”
The idea to use the Carfax application for police purposes was brought forward by PPD officer Aaron Jernigan, who noted its use at other surrounding agencies such as the Forrest County Sherriff’s Office, George County Sheriff’s Office, Gulfport Police Department, Harrison County Sherriff’s Office, Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, Hattiesburg Police Department, Purvis Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
If all goes according to plan, the Carfax initiative will go into effect this week.
“I don’t want to take credit for it; (Jernigan) presented it, and after looking at it, we didn’t think there was any reason not to (implement it),” Hiatt said. “I think it’s a win-win, for sure.”
Carfax was founded in Columbia, Missouri in 1984 by Ewin Barnett II and Robert Daniel Clark. The company’s Vehicle History Report can provide information about the number of owners a used car has had, accidents it has been in, title issues, whether it was a fleet vehicle, and its maintenance record, among other aspects of its history.
