During the first week of August 2010, law enforcement officers from all across North America gathered in Columbus, Ohio to compete for top honors in the North American Inspector Challenge. Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicle Inspector Dean Pisciotta, a 15-year member, was among the competitors. The event recognizes the best of the best by inviting commercial motor vehicle inspectors from the United States, Canada and Mexico to participate in a 7-day competition which tests inspectors’ knowledge in seven different categories. Some of the categories include: North American Level 1 inspections; HAZMAT inspections; cargo tank inspections; and passenger vehicle (motor coach) inspections.

Each category of the competition assigns a point value based on different criteria. To obtain a perfect score in a category, an inspector must correctly identify all out-of-service violations, list all defective equipment and driver violations, refrain from recording a violation that is not present and perform each inspection under a stringent time limit. The competition was fierce and went down to the wire with only 15 points separating the top 10 inspectors. At the end of the competition, Inspector Dean Pisciotta placed 10th overall out of 53 inspectors.

Many inspectors from jurisdictions across North America attend this event multiple times throughout their careers. Some law enforcement agencies train and prepare their representatives for months in advance in the hopes they will bring home the coveted first place trophy. This was Inspector Pisciotta’s first appearance and he did not receive any special training prior to the competition. We congratulate him on a job well done!

The event is held annually and sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). Although the competition produces only one overall champion, each inspector leaves the weeklong event with the latest safety information, technology and standards and inspection procedures; they also get the opportunity to share ideas, techniques and experiences with each other.

“The competition was one of the best experiences of my career”, stated Pisciotta. “It was very enlightening to see how other inspectors across the country do this job.” He went on to say, “I did pick up on some ideas that we should be doing here in Connecticut, but also the competition allowed me to realize how very well trained and proactive DMV Inspectors are in Connecticut.”

Commercial vehicle inspectors are highly-trained professionals who save lives every day by keeping unsafe commercial vehicles and drivers off the roads.