AZDPS Trooper wins North American Inspectors Championship

Forty-eight commercial vehicle inspectors, representing jurisdictions across North America, gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Aug. 8-12, 2016, to compete in the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) 24th annual North American Inspectors Championship (NAIC).

The event, which is held every year in a different city, is essentially the “Super Bowl” of commercial vehicle inspector competitions. It features the most knowledgeable and talented commercial vehicle inspectors from throughout North America.

This year, the grand champion of the event was none other than AZDPS Trooper Dan Voelker.

Voelker, a 10-year AZ DPS Veteran, captured top honors at the event which earned him the prestigious Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award.

He earned this top honor for his combined performances in six timed and highly demanding competition elements.

Those six individual competition elements were the North American Standard Level I Inspection, the North American Standard Level I Inspection Procedure, the North American Standard Hazmat/Transportation of Dangerous Goods Inspection, the North American Standard Cargo Tank/ Other Bulk Packagings Inspection, the North American Standard Level V Passenger Vehicle (Motorcoach) Inspection and the North American Standard Out-of- Service Criteria Exam.

The Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award Voelker received for his combined performance in all of the events is the highest possible NAIC honor a roadside commercial vehicle inspector can receive.

Voelker qualified for the NAIC by winning the Arizona Inspector’s Championship earlier this year in Tempe.

“We at AZDPS are extremely proud of Trooper Voelker for winning the prestigious Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award. It is truly a phenomenal accomplishment and proves he is the best of the best when it comes to commercial vehicle inspectors. The AZDPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Program, which Trooper Voelker is a part of, strives for excellence, and when one of our own obtains such international recognition, it reflects well on the entire program,” said Capt. Brian Preston, who oversees the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Program at AZDPS.

With Voelker’s win, AZDPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement has now brought home the NAIC top honor for two of the last three years; with AZDPS Trooper JW Watlington having earned the prize in 2014.

“I had very high expectations for myself going into this year’s NAIC in Indianapolis,” Voelker said. “I wanted to win the competition and I knew I could win the competition. When all was said and done and I came out on top, I was excited, elated and very proud.”

In addition to the competitive events at the NAIC, each inspector received training on the latest commercial vehicle safety information, technology, standards and inspection procedures.

As the 2016 Grand Champion, Voelker is getting AZDPS positive exposure in the media.

He is featured prominently on the homepage of the CVSA website and, in mid-August, he was interviewed by the host of the Road Dog Trucking radio show on Sirius satellite radio.

He has also been asked to contribute an article on a topic of his choosing for four editions of the CVSA Guardian magazine.