Starting tomorrow, the California Highway Patrol will begin a 48 hour mandatory "Stand-Down". Over the last five months, the CHP has experienced the painful death of six officers.

From FOX 40 News:

SACRAMENTO — Shaken by the deaths of six patrolmen since last fall, the California Highway Patrol on Monday required its field commanders to review safety procedures with their officers.

The statewide "stand-down" will be in effect for two days for the CHP's 108 field offices but will not affect deployments or service, CHP Commissioner Mike Brown said during a news conference.

Brown said the rarely used action also will give officers the chance to vent their feelings. He said there was "a lot of anger" within the department over the rash of deaths, the latest of which came over the weekend when a Southern California motorcycle officer was struck by a suspected drunken driver during a traffic stop.

"We have been struggling with this internally," Brown said.

The stand-down applies to the department's 7,287 uniformed officers and its 3,112 non-uniformed personnel. Over the 48-hour period, field commanders will set aside several hours to discuss the events with their officers, reviewing the department's safety procedures and identifying any potential problems in policies or training.

While the CHP claims that even though there will be many officers in meetings, it will be "Business as usual" for them. I think tomorrow's "Stand-Down" will be a great tool. Officers and other personnel will have an opportunity to voice concerns and make recommendations to their supervisors.

It will be interesting to see if the CHP takes the information gathered over the next 48 hours and does something constructive with it.