II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1236

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

SEPTEMBER 29, 1997

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 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) in 1996—
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1 (A) 377 deaths occurred in the United

2 States as a result of high-speed motor vehicle

3 pursuits; and

4 (B) 103 of those deaths were police offi5 cers or innocent bystanders who died as a result

6 of high-speed motor vehicle pursuits;

7 (2) in 1995, of the high-speed motor vehicle

8 pursuits conducted during that year, approxi9 mately—

10 (A) 40 percent resulted in accidents;

11 (B) 20 percent resulted in injury; and

12 (C) 1 percent resulted in death;

13 (3) a recent study found that approximately 60

14 percent of high-speed motor vehicle pursuits resulted

15 from pursuits that were not related to felony of16 fenses;

17 (4) an insufficient amount of statistical data

18 and documentation concerning high-speed motor ve19 hicle pursuits is available;

20 (5) a recent study found that although only 31

21 percent of law enforcement agencies maintain con22 sistent records on motor vehicle pursuits made by

23 law enforcement officers, 71 percent of those agen24 cies were able to provide data on the number of

25 high-speed motor vehicle pursuits conducted;
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1 (6) a recent study found that—

2 (A) 73 percent of the law enforcement offi3 cers polled had been involved in a high-speed

4 motor vehicle pursuit during the 12-month pe5 riod preceding the date of the polling; and

6 (B) 40 percent of those officers reported

7 that an accident resulted from a high-speed

8 motor vehicle pursuit in which the officer par9 ticipated;

10 (7) a recent study found that most law enforce11 ment recruits who receive training to become law en12 forcement officers receive only an average of 14

13 hours of training for driving skills, and a majority

14 of that time is used to provide training in the me15 chanics of driving instead of providing practice for

16 safe and effective high-speed motor vehicle pursuit

17 procedures; and

18 (8) a recent study found that an increased em19 phasis on the high-speed motor vehicle pursuit poli20 cies, procedures, and training decreases the occur21 rence of high-speed motor vehicle pursuits, as the re22 cruits who receive training that includes special

23 training for effective high-speed motor vehicle pur24 suits were less likely to engage in those pursuits.
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1 SEC. 3. MOTOR VEHICLE PURSUIT REQUIREMENTS FOR

2 STATE HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAMS.

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

4 amended—

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

6 by striking the period at the end and inserting a

7 semicolon;

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

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

10 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub11 paragraph:

12 ‘‘(F) on and after January 1, 1999, have in ef13 fect throughout the State—

14 ‘‘(i) a law that—

15 ‘‘(I) makes it unlawful for the driver

16 of a motor vehicle to increase speed or to

17 take any other deliberately evasive action if

18 a law enforcement officer clearly signals

19 the driver to stop the motor vehicle; and

20 ‘‘(II) provides that any driver who vio21 lates that law shall be subject to a mini22 mum penalty of—

23 ‘‘(aa) imprisonment for a period

24 of not less than 3 months; and

25 ‘‘(bb) seizure of the motor vehicle

26 at issue; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) a requirement that each State agency

2 and each agency of a political subdivision of the

3 State that employs law enforcement officers

4 who, in the course of employment, may conduct

5 a motor vehicle pursuit shall—

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

7 requirements that the Secretary shall es8 tablish concerning the manner and cir9 cumstances in which a motor vehicle pur10 suit may be conducted by law enforcement

11 officers;

12 ‘‘(II) train all law enforcement offi13 cers of the agency in accordance with the

14 policy referred to in subclause (I); and

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

16 the chief executive officer of the State a re17 port containing information on each motor

18 vehicle pursuit conducted by a law enforce19 ment officer of the agency.’’.

20 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

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

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

23 the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Sec24 retary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Treasury, the

25 Chief of the Capitol Police, and the Administrator of Gen-
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1 eral Services shall each transmit to Congress a report con2 taining—

3 (1) the policy of the department or agency

4 headed by that individual concerning motor vehicle

5 pursuits by law enforcement officers of that depart6 ment or agency; and

7 (2) a description of the procedures that the de8 partment or agency uses to train law enforcement

9 officers in the implementation of the policy referred

10 to in paragraph (1).

11 (b) REQUIREMENT.—Each policy referred to in sub12 section (a)(1) shall meet the requirements established by

13 the Secretary of Transportation pursuant to section

14 402(b)(1)(F)(ii)(I) of title 23, United States Code, con15 cerning the manner and circumstances in which a motor

16 vehicle pursuit may be conducted.

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