II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 923

To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for a national program

concerning motor vehicle pursuits by law enforcement officers, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 14 (legislative day, JUNE 5), 1995

Mr. DORGAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for a

national program concerning motor vehicle pursuits by

law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Police Pur5 suit Policy Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) accidents occurring as a result of high speed

9 motor vehicle pursuits of fleeing motor vehicles by
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1 law enforcement officers are becoming increasingly

2 common across the United States;

3 (2) the extent of the problem of those pursuits

4 is evident despite significant underreporting;

5 (3) because the problem of those pursuits is ex6 tensive, it is essential for all law enforcement agen7 cies to develop and implement policies and training

8 procedures for dealing with high speed motor vehicle

9 pursuits;

10 (4) a high speed motor vehicle pursuit in a

11 community by a law enforcement officer should be

12 treated in the same manner as the firing of a police

13 firearm because a high speed motor vehicle pursuit

14 involves the use of a deadly force with the potential

15 for causing harm or death to pedestrians and motor16 ists;

17 (5) the Federal Government should provide an

18 incentive for States to enact laws to prevent high

19 speed motor vehicle pursuits;

20 (6) to demonstrate leadership in response to the

21 national problem of high speed motor vehicle pur22 suits, all Federal law enforcement agencies should—

23 (A) develop policies and procedures govern24 ing motor vehicle pursuits; and
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1 (B) provide assistance to State and local

2 law enforcement agencies in instituting such

3 policies and procedures and in conducting train4 ing; and

5 (7) the policies referred to in paragraph (6)

6 should balance reasonably the need—

7 (A) to apprehend promptly dangerous

8 criminals; and

9 (B) to address the threat to the safety of

10 the general public posed by high speed pursuits.

11 SEC. 3. MOTOR VEHICLE PURSUIT REQUIREMENTS FOR

12 STATE HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAMS.

13 Section 402(b)(1) of title 23, United States Code, is

14 amended—

15 (1) in each of subparagraphs (A) through (D),

16 by striking the period at the end and inserting a

17 semicolon;

18 (2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period

19 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

20 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub21 paragraph:

22 ‘‘(F) on and after January 1, 1997, have in ef23 fect throughout the State—

24 ‘‘(i) a law that—
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1 ‘‘(I) makes it unlawful for the driver

2 of a motor vehicle to increase speed or to

3 take any other deliberately evasive action if

4 a law enforcement officer clearly signals

5 the driver to stop the motor vehicle; and

6 ‘‘(II) provides that any driver who vio7 lates that law shall be subject to a mini8 mum penalty of—

9 ‘‘(aa) imprisonment for a period

10 of not less 3 months; and

11 ‘‘(bb) seizure of the motor vehicle

12 at issue; and

13 ‘‘(ii) a requirement that each State agency

14 and each agency of a political subdivision of the

15 State that employs law enforcement officers

16 who, in the course of employment, may conduct

17 a motor vehicle pursuit shall—

18 ‘‘(I) have in effect a policy that meets

19 requirements that the Secretary shall es20 tablish concerning the manner and cir21 cumstances in which a motor vehicle pur22 suit may be conducted by law enforcement

23 officers;
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1 ‘‘(II) train all law enforcement offi2 cers of the agency in accordance with the

3 policy referred to in subclause (I); and

4 ‘‘(III) for each fiscal year, transmit to

5 the chief executive officer of the State a re6 port containing information on each motor

7 vehicle pursuit conducted by a law enforce8 ment officer of the agency.’’.

9 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General of

12 the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Sec13 retary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Treasury, the

14 Chief of the Capitol Police, and the Administrator of Gen15 eral Services shall each transmit to the Congress a report

16 containing—

17 (1) the policy of the department or agency

18 headed by that individual concerning motor vehicle

19 pursuits by law enforcement officers of that depart20 ment or agency; and

21 (2) a description of the procedures that the de22 partment or agency uses to train law enforcement

23 officers in the implementation of the policy referred

24 to in paragraph (1).
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1 (b) REQUIREMENT.—Each policy referred to in sub2 section (a)(1) shall meet the requirements established by

3 the Secretary of Transportation pursuant to section

4 402(b)(1)(F)(ii)(I) of title 23, United States Code, con5 cerning the manner and circumstances in which a motor

6 vehicle pursuit may be conducted.

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