Chief of police called to crash (5)
I believe the answer is:
prang
'to crash' is the definition.
(to prang is to crash a car)
'chief of police called' is the wordplay.
'chief of' suggests taking the first letters.
'called' becomes 'rang' (called on the phone).
The first letter of 'police' is 'p'.
'p'+'rang'='PRANG'
(Other definitions for prang that I've seen before include "Plane or car crash" , "Minor accident" , "Car collision" , "Car accident, usually not too serious" , "Possible argument with van" .)