Source: https://pursuitforchange.org/category/real-police-chases/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 00:45:39+00:00

Document:
In California, only 5% of high speed pursuits were an attempt to catch someone suspected of committing a violent crime; the majority of the pursuits started for a minor traffic or vehicle infraction. In 1998, a study funded by the Justice Department revealed that the most common violation for suspects who caused high-speed pursuits was car theft. The second most common offense was having a suspended license, and the third was avoiding arrest.
Vaughn’s lecture raises the subject of the legality of vehicle pursuits as a use of force and the liability that can result from their consequences. It has been reported that vehicle pursuits are the second greatest source of awards and judgments against law enforcement agencies.
The constitutionality of high-speed pursuits has come under scrutiny in recent decades, focusing on what the courts sometimes view as a “disproportionate use of force.” In the 1973 case Johnson v. Glick, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals published a test to determine whether police used excessive force. This test has four aspects: 1) the need for the force, 2) the relationship between the need and the amount of force used, 3) the extent of the injury, and 4) the officer’s motives. An action that does not pass this test is a violation of the suspect’s 4th and 14th Amendment rights.
The Glick test was used in 1985 during the ruling on Tennessee v. Garner, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established officers cannot legally kill unarmed persons just because they are running away from the officers. In its ruling, the Court noted that the need to catch Garner, who was suspected of burglary, did not outweigh the suspect’s life because he did not pose a considerable threat to society even though he committed a felony.
In 1989, the Supreme Court again made a decision regarding disproportionate force, this time with regard to non-lethal force. In Graham v. Connor, the Supreme Court used both the Johnson v. Glick and the Tennessee v. Garner opinions to determine that force should be proportionate to the danger posed by the subject, the seriousness of the offense, and the harm in failing to capture the subject.
Since high-speed pursuits are so dangerous, why are they so prevalent? Perhaps the frequency of high-speed pursuits is due in part to the Broken Window Theory, which George Kelling and James Wilson discussed in their article titled “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety.” This theory posits that uncontrolled minor crimes leave room for major crime to slowly creep into the community.
A 2008 study titled “Police Pursuits in an Age of Innovation and Reform” by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 91% of all high-speed pursuits begin with the suspects committing “non-violent” crimes. Departments have implemented vehicle pursuit policies to deter crime, building the (more or less accurate) perception that fleeing the police in a vehicle, even after a non-violent crime, will result in being caught and facing serious consequences.
This is the conundrum facing law enforcement agencies. How can they reduce the number of high-speed pursuits while still maintaining departmental integrity so that justice is enforced equally and thoroughly?
When it comes to reducing high-speed pursuits, there are various strategies that a law enforcement agency can employ in order to maintain an effective response plan. There are pluses and minuses for each. If a department changes the policy to instruct officers to never pursue fleeing suspects in vehicles, problems with consistent enforcement may arise. On the other hand, high-speed pursuits can be extremely costly, both in terms of people killed and injured and in terms of lawsuits against the involved agency.
One strategy to curtail unsafe high-speed pursuits is a simple change in policy. In 2010, the Milwaukee Police Department began restricting high-speed pursuits to suspected violent felons. From the period of 2010 to 2014, injuries from high-speed pursuits in Milwaukee dropped. The Florida Highway Patrol adopted a similar policy in 2012. Highway Patrol officers were told to only chase criminals suspected of violent felonies, drunk drivers, and reckless drivers. In 2010 and 2011, high-speed pursuits by the Florida Highway patrol numbered 697. In 2013 and 2014, the number dropped to 374.
Agencies can also increase training on high-speed pursuits. High-speed pursuits can happen so suddenly that officers often have little time to think before they must make critical decisions. In 2007, Florida Highway Patrol sergeants were surveyed and the study found that 80% did not think that patrol officers received an adequate amount of pursuit training. One way that a law enforcement agency can help train its officers for high-speed pursuits is using a pursuit management continuum—a visual chart that shows what level of force should be used for what type of offense.
A pursuit management continuum has three levels for both the suspect’s actions and for the officer’s responses, the Police Policy Studies Council says. For the officer, the levels are Level 1 Control, Level 2 Control, and Level 3 Control. For fleeing suspects, the levels are Level 1 Flight, Level 2 Flight, and Level 3 Flight.
Level 1 Flight is violations such as minor traffic crimes and other low-threat crimes, to which an officer should respond with an action from Level 1 Control, including simple trailing and stationary roadblocks. In this first level, since the threat to the public is not severe, officers can use techniques that are relatively safe for both themselves and the suspects they are trying to stop. If the suspect does not stop, or if a police officer witnesses a more serious offense, then the situation escalates to Level 2, which includes serious traffic offenses and crimes that present a high risk to public safety but do not justify deadly force such as driving while intoxicated. An officer should respond with Level 2 Controls, including rolling roadblocks or controlled deflation devices (spike strips). As officer and suspect action goes up the continuum, the more dangerous the situation is for those involved as well as bystanders. A Level 3 offense would be a life-threatening felony, something that justifies a deadly force response. A Level 3 Control could be ramming the suspects’ car or using firearms. Using Level 3 controls should be reserved for the most egregious offenses in emergency situations.
Officers can also use GPS to track a fleeing vehicle instead of pursuing. One such technology, StarChase, has been deployed at various law enforcement agencies.
The StarChase system includes a control panel installed inside the officer’s vehicle that the officer can use to arm, aim, and fire the system. The launching component holds the GPS trackers and is installed on the front of the officer’s vehicle. When an officer is chasing a fleeing vehicle, he or she can then arm the system, shoot a GPS tracker onto the fleeing vehicle, and terminate the pursuit. Police can then follow up on the vehicle once it is parked to apprehend the suspect.
In a study of 36 agencies, Dr. Geoffrey Alpert of the University of South Carolina found that StarChase was more than 80% successful in leading police to criminals, and that many of the unsuccessful deployments were affected by weather.
Since vehicle pursuits pose a danger to police officers and bystanders alike, law enforcement management ideally should develop and implement a policy that identifies management approval at key decision points for the pursuit to begin and continue. Decision Point One: Do the officers have approval to initiate a pursuit? This decision should be made based on the agency’s policy.
Decision Point Two: Should the pursuit continue beyond its initial moment? This decision must be made based on the totality of circumstances involved and agency policy. For this decision to be effective a superior must direct the pursuit.
Decision Point Three: Should officers from other agencies become involved? The supervisor who is directing the pursuit should maintain communication with other jurisdictions as the pursuit moves into their territory. The primary reason for another agency to become involved is if the initiating agency abandons the pursuit or it needs support.
Decision Point Four: What strategies, tactics, or techniques can be used to physically stop the fleeing vehicle? Once again, agency policy, good police management, and legal mandates must guide the decision-making process and any action taken should require command approval.
Decision Point Five: Should the pursuit be terminated? This decision may be made at any time, beginning with the request to initiate the pursuit, or any time prior to apprehension of the fleeing vehicle. This decision may be made by the initiating officer or management, but management will have greater objectivity and the expertise to make the most effective decision.
Each of these decisions is best made by management. Officers involved in a pursuit are extremely busy, and they are also feeling a rush of adrenaline. They need guidance commanders who are not participating in the pursuit.
Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses a voluntary reporting system for law enforcement vehicle pursuits. This means that police departments are not required to report all data from pursuits that occur within their jurisdictions. Police departments can opt out, for example, of giving NHTSA an accurate count of officers, bystanders, and suspects injured or killed as a result of high-speed chases. To keep the department accountable, agencies should require that all of their data to be sent to NHTSA, regardless of how it makes the department look. This will pressure the department to actively reduce the number of pursuits and increase safety when pursuits do occur.
The first step in assessing the effectiveness of implemented strategies is to collect data before the changes are put in place. At least a year’s worth of data should be collected so that future data will have a comparative sample. If data is collected only over a couple of months, then the sample size is too small, and it becomes hard to assess the effectiveness of implemented programs.
When looking at pursuit data, simply recording the number of pursuits will not show anything substantive. Even though there will be an expected drop in the number of high-speed pursuits due to officers being instructed to only pursue certain types of offenders, data should still be collected regarding related injuries, fatalities, costs, and the number of pursuits. By collecting all of the different types of data, law enforcement agencies (or the outside sources they hire to analyze the data) can determine whether or not their implemented strategies have been effective.
After the data is analyzed, agencies can adjust their policies and procedures as needed. Once these amended policies are in place, the process must start over with data collection from the new policies. This process should continue until the department is content with the amount of data it has recorded.
High-speed pursuits are a very dangerous task that law enforcement officers sometimes must undertake. Such pursuits are more common than many would assume, and an unfortunate number of them end in crashes resulting either in casualties or fatalities. However, if police agencies understand the causes of high-speed pursuits and how to reduce their likelihood, they will be better prepared to improve officer and bystander safety.
Patrick Oliver served as chief of police for the cities of Fairborn, OH, and Grandview Heights, OH, and as ranger chief of Cleveland Metropolitan Park District. He has significant experience with pursuits, having worked 11 years as a trooper with the Ohio Highway Patrol. Oliver is currently director of the criminal justice program for Cedarville University.
Samuel Kirchhoff is a criminal justice student at Cedarville University.
What a tragic year 2016 was for law enforcement line of duty deaths involving ambush, violent assaults and firearms. Depending on the source that you use, LODDs due to firearms are up a staggering 61 percent to 83 percent over 2015, while overall LODDs are up 12 percent to 18 percent over 2015. It is a reminder that we must all stay alert, plan ahead and keep vigilant with calls involving firearms. It is also a time where we must rise above the media hype, maintain our professionalism and stay the course on reducing “all” LODDs across this country.
When looking at the 2016 LODD statistics, it is notable that we continue to lose officers and deputies in vehicle related incidents. The majority of those losses involve pursuits and emergency response to calls for service. LODD numbers that are identified as “traffic-related” are significant. In 2016, we lost 51 officer/deputies to these incidents (up 11 percent) while we have lost 61 to firearms-related (up 61 percent). In years past, we have lost almost as many, and in some cases more, officer/deputies to the “automobile” incidents than to the “firearm” incidents and yet, our recognition of the safe and tactical operation of the automobile is so much less than that of the firearm? It is a pitfall that many law enforcement officers and deputies, tacticians, and trainers fall prey to our own profession’s hype that officer survival only involves physical conditioning, aggressiveness and a command of firearm skills. But, in fact, a more accurate personal officer survival program should include driving skills, good judgment and decision making skills, as well as mental conditioning and interpersonal skill that include deescalation in all situations.
Let’s talk a bit about the 51 officers and deputies that we lost in 2016 to traffic-related incidents and what we as a profession are doing and training about it?
In the old days, we practiced pursuits on graveyards and nightshifts, where finding a pursuit was like taking a lunch; if you wanted one, you took it. However, today the Chief’s and Sheriff’s, along with community and LE leaders have reduced the number of pursuits and emergency responses through more restrictive policy, law changes and an overall cultural change. There are basically three types of Police Pursuit policies in our country: the threshold policy, the balance test and the zero pursuit policy. All are authored with the best of intentions in mind, however the real question is how is the policy actually followed in practice and is our training applicable to the policy?
Don’t take this the wrong way; I do believe it is the right thing to reduce unnecessary pursuits and emergency responses in light of how dangerous they can be. The real question is are we still training proper driving, judgment, decision making, and de-escalation skills required of the pursuits and emergency responses that are still authorized and required of our profession. Look back at the numbers again; the contemporary training focus is on the 61 firearms-related deaths, yet we still lost 51 officers and deputies to “traffic-related” incidents. As trainers, shouldn’t we respect driving as much as we respect shooting!
If we can all agree, much like Below 100 advocates, that driving is a critical survival skill, then let’s move forward and discuss how we are actually training to this end.
In my experience in training throughout this country, I find a very similar mindset within both administrative and line-personnel regarding driver training: it’s for the basic academy recruit and not necessary for the intermediate or advanced officer or deputy because they drive everyday.
It seems that most agencies only consider driving training after a collision has occurred where-in the officer or deputy has been deemed to be at-fault or in some cases if the collision is considered to be preventable. Even in these remedial cases, the remediation of being sent to a high-speed driving class or local cone course often has nothing to do with the real cause of the collision. For example, an officer or deputy may have been driving too fast for the current road conditions and was unable to stop in time for an unexpected conflict and is then sent to a high speed pursuit driving course.
There is also almost no consideration given for close-calls as they are difficult to document and quite frankly, who is going to call a peer out for driving too fast or passing when it was unsafe or not wearing a seat belt? It’s not like they drove up too close on a hot call or put themselves between lines of fire at a hostage situation or chose not to wait for a back-up when one was available and ended up in a bad situation; or is it?
4. Who is driving complacency?
It is examples like the above where I see complacency towards driving and ask the question: who is driving complacency?
First, are you as an operator of an official authorized emergency vehicle driving complacency by taking your driving for granted, not wearing a seat belt, pushing the speed and most of all, believing that you could stop on a dime at any time?
Second, are you the training officer, Sergeant or Administrator/Chief that is driving complacency by not requiring, providing or encouraging driving training that supports safe operation, good judgment and proper decisions while operating an emergency vehicle? Would you not agree that both groups are driving complacency?
So, the point here is that we should examine what we are training for and how much time we are dedicating to high liability, low frequency training? Are we looking at the facts and numbers to base our decisions on? Have we separated “driving training” too far from force options, judgment, decision-making and de-escalation training? If we’re losing almost as many officers to traffic-related incidents as to firearms-related incidents, shouldn’t our driving training remain a high priority for us?
Chuck Deakins is Public Safety Specialist for FAAC. Deakins is a retired officer from Santa Ana (Calif.) whose knowledge of simulator training strategies, tactics, and techniques, has led to his success in all applications of simulation instruction.
Rose should have turned 18 on this day, if she was still alive.
But Rose, like so many other innocent victims, was killed as the result of a police chase once again gone horribly wrong.
I lost my 16 year old daughter in a tragic and senseless accident. Rose Capela Bio died September 21, 2015 at 1:14am. She died in surgery, after the vehicle in which she was riding in the back seat, flipped multiple times during a high speed police chase begun because the driver didn’t stop when the police tried to pull him over.
All FOUR (4) kids in the vehicle died. Rose was the only one wearing a seatbelt. The other three occupants died instantly, and Rose fought her hardest but was injured so seriously that she too was taken to heaven. I realize this would not have happened if the driver had stopped, but nonethless I will spend my life advocating to end high speed police chases.
Since receiving Patti’s note we’ve remained friends in contact. We are kindred spirits – parents of children killed as the result of a police pursuit.
Rose would have be graduating from high school this year – but no… So to help with the pain, Patti’s children and nieces started a rock painting group called “Rocks4Rose“. I’ve included a Facebook link below.
Patti tells me that Rocks4Rose is helping Rose’s family and friends with their healing. The group paints rocks and leaves them in places for people to find. Awesome!
We had one lady post saying her friend found one at the foot of the statue of liberty! And another was found in Baja California, so that’s kinda cool. We share Rose’s story on the @Rocks4Rose page on Facebook (http://bit.ly/2pU7Z66) hoping to raise awareness about teens and police chases. If you have a minute, check out the page.
I highly encourage you to visit Patti’s Rocks4Rose Facebook page and perhaps paint a rock yourself. But even if you can’t paint, please remember the innocent victims killed. And remember there are thousands upon thousands of people living in pain because they lost a loved one in an avoidable police chase.
NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa. —Four days after a police chase ended with three people killed in North Versailles, investigators continue to piece together what led up to the deadly crash.
Surveillance video from a business along Route 30 obtained by Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 shows the suspect’s white car speeding down the road toward Route 48 just minutes before the crash. A North Versailles police cruiser can be seen trailing the car by only a matter of seconds.
Detectives from the Allegheny County Police Department have been working to obtain that video while investigating the incident.
Many have also questioned whether officers should have been pursuing the car. The suspect, Demetrius Coleman, was wanted for felony probation violation related to a drug charge, but not for a violent crime.
North Versailles police have not revealed their policy for initiating or continuing a chase. An officer reached at the department Monday said the chief would not be in until Wednesday.
Jonathan Farris, founder of Pursuit for Change, a group that advocates for changes to police chase policies, said from the information he has seen, he doesn’t believe the North Versailles pursuit was justified.
“There was nothing going on at that point in time that made that person dangerous enough to instigate a pursuit which put other people in danger, and in fact ultimately killed three innocent citizens,” Farris said.
His group recommends that chases be reserved for violent offenders, and that police departments employ better technology to stop fleeing suspects without having to pursue them. Also, he believes police departments should better coordinate their policies to line up with each other.
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 called every North Versailles township commissioner Monday. No one would speak on camera about the crash or their police department’s policy, but some did say the issue would be a major topic at their next meeting.
The Allegheny County district attorney is also gathering information about the case, and could make a statement on it later this week.
The number of people killed in high-speed police chases surged in 2014 to its highest level since 2007 despite efforts by police departments to reduce the risks of people getting killed and injured, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
A total of 385 people died in motor-vehicle crashes in 2014 that occurred while police were chasing a vehicle, up 16% from the 333 people killed in 2013, the USA TODAY review of federal records shows.
“A huge percentage of these deaths are unnecessary,” said Jonathan Farris, former chairman of PursuitSAFETY, which advocates to restrict police chases and improve reporting of chase-related deaths and injuries. Farris’ son Paul, 23, was killed in 2007 near Boston by a motorist being chased for a traffic violation.
Approximately 73 of the people killed in 2014 were bystanders — mostly people in their own cars that were hit by a fleeing motorist — and 77 were passengers in the fleeing vehicles. Twelve of those killed were children age 14 or younger, including an infant who had not yet turned one. Five were police officers.
Thousands more people were injured in the chases, which usually begin for minor infractions such as traffic violations. Although the federal government does not count injuries in police chases, five states that do keep track reported that a combined total of 1,764 people were injured in 2014 in their states.
Those states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — make up nearly 23% of the U.S. population, which suggests that more than 7,700 people may have been injured nationwide in police chases in 2014.
Records from those states also suggest that there were about 52,000 police chases in 2014.
COFFEE COUNTY, Tenn. — The mayor of Tullahoma is calling for change after a Coffee County high-speed chase ends in tragedy for the second time in the last month. This time, the crash took the life of a beloved City employee.
“It’s absolutely not acceptable,” said Tullahoma Mayor Lane Curlee.
The sheriff says the reason was that a driver had a busted license plate light and the passenger acted suspicious, hiding from view from a deputy. The license plate violation gave the deputy cause to pursue Driver Kayla Hickey and Passenger Charleston Ortega. The chase ended-up taking the life of Joe Moon, a friend and colleague of the mayor for 40 years.
“I mean enough is enough! It ain’t been two weeks and we’ve got another death,” Mildred Parker, mother of Jessica Campos, the woman who died in the last high-speed chase.
Just weeks ago, Coffee County deputies chased a man who stole a car from a funeral home and that chase also ended in crash that took the life of Jessica Campos, a mother of two young children.
Just this week, Campos’ family filed a $10 million lawsuit against the sheriff’s department for the chase that they felt was unjustified.
The sheriff says his investigation found nothing wrong. According to its pursuit policy, a deputy can chase if there’s the possibility of loss of life, serious injury or major property damage.
“What is your reaction to this happening twice now in the last few weeks?” asked Reporter Sabrina Hall.
“Criminals ought to stop,” said Craig Northcott, the Coffee County District Attorney.
The district attorney backs up the sheriff’s department and says he’d only prosecute if a deputy committed a crime.
In pursuits, the Coffee County Sheriff’s department investigates itself on whether a deputy followed protocol when it comes to a high-speed chase.
The Tullahoma mayor and Campos’ family are calling for change.
“It’s got to stop,” said Parker.
The 21-year-old driver, Hickey, who fled from deputies is locked-up at the Coffee County Jail. The DA says he plans to hold her and her passenger, Ortega, accountable for the loss of life.
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) –Thousands of bystanders and passengers have been killed since the 1980s in high-speed police chases.
One of those happened last week in Murfreesboro when a mother of two was killed instantly when the suspect rammed into her car.
Now her family is wanting to know why her life was taken for a stolen car.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police conducted a survey on thousands of chases nationally. They found 92 percent of pursuits began for a traffic violation, misdemeanor or non-violent felonies.
“I got involved in this in 2007 when my son was killed. I was boggled. I just couldn’t believe the number of them,” said Jonathan Farris, the founder of Pursuit for Change.
It often takes tragedy to bring to light the dangers of high-speed police chases.
“This should have never happened. This right here should have never happened,” said Mildred Parker, Jessica Campos’ mother.
Campos was killed in Murfreesboro when a suspect hit her after a more than 30-mile chase over a stolen car.
“It’s that cross jurisdictional issue, but someone gave me the number and it’s close to 19,000 law enforcement agencies, and they all have different policies,” Farris said.
Farris lost his son, Paul, in a city that has essentially a no pursuit policy, but the pursuit began in another county.
“My son and his girlfriend were in the backseat of a taxi. That taxi came to the intersection and the perpetrator was in an SUV and just t-boned them. Literally lifted the taxi up and threw it onto a sidewalk,” Farris said.
The chase started over an illegal U-turn.
“That’s when I lost it and decided I need to figure out why this is happening, how it’s happening, and so that’s when I started tracking pursuits,” Farris said.
He found that they are happening too often and for non-violent crimes.
Farris is working for federal regulations making pursuit policies consistent and for violent felonies only.
“No one has done anything with high-speed pursuits for the last 20 years,” said Trevor Fischbach, president of StarChase.
Fischbach is working to develop technology so police don’t have to chase at all.
“It’s mounted to the patrol car,” he said.
It may look like an Inspector Gadget car, but StarChase allows police officers to launch a GPS device onto a suspect’s car.
Statistic show it works, allowing police to track the suspects without having to use high speeds and putting others’ lives at risk. However, it does come with a price tag.
“Today we hear these stories and some are obviously much more tragic than others and this is definitely a tragic one. That is why we are working so hard to provide this technology to agencies,” Fischbach said.
Right now about 100 police agencies are using StarChase, none in Tennessee.
To get involved with Pursuit for Change, click here to visit their website. There is also a petition to help get new legislation enacted.
Thanks to the Rockford Register for this editorial. They make very good recommendations regarding more commonality of different departments’ pursuit policies. If lives are truly to be saved, then move to a policy allowing pursuits for only violent felonies. And support local law enforcement with additional driving training and the ability to try new pursuit reduction technologies.
We’ve been critical of the Rockford Police Department’s “no chase” policy in the past. That’s why we are pleased that new Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea has changed the department’s policy to one that’s reasonable and gives officers the authority to decide when and when not to chase, based on several criteria.
In a meeting with the Editorial Board last week, O’Shea said Rockford police will chase violent offenders who are considered an imminent threat to others, based on traffic conditions, the time of day and the presence of pedestrians. If an officer is shot, the police definitely will chase if at all possible.
Meanwhile, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department continues its “pedal to the metal” policy. Last week, a sheriff’s deputy went on a high-speed chase, at one point reaching 100 mph, to pursue someone because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt and the deputy thought he saw the driver of the Chevy Tahoe reaching down under the seat to maybe hide something. This was at 10:24 p.m., in the darkness of night.
The deputy tried to pursue the car, but it sped away. The chase led from southeast Rockford to Illinois 251 to Perryville Road, where the Tahoe was traveling in the wrong lane. The deputy stopped chasing at that point.
This is the latest in a series of high-speed chases by the Sheriff’s Department, one of which ended in the death of Joy Lambert, 55, who was on her way to work at BMO Harris Bank. The deputy didn’t hit her, but the car he was chasing at a high speed on Springfield Avenue did.
Another sheriff’s chase ended up with the chased car wrecked on the sidewalk directly in front of Rockford City Hall.
None of those chases involved suspects who were immediate threats to public safety.
We’ve applauded Sheriff Gary Caruana for his efforts to beef up crime fighting throughout the county with an emphasis on high-crime areas. But we think the sheriff’s chase policy should be rethought, with greater emphasis put on the safety of innocent bystanders and the officers.
In fact, we urge the city and county to adopt a common policy and training regimen to ensure that everyone is on the same page and knows the same driving techniques. Throw in the Rockford Park District, Loves Park Police and rural village departments, too.
There is no question that police chases are inherently dangerous to the public.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police, based in Alexandria, Virginia, has a model “vehicular pursuit policy,” updated in 2015, on its website, theiacp.org. We have read it, and it seems logical and reasonable to us civilians.
1. Pursuit is authorized only if the officer has a reasonable belief that the suspect, if allowed to flee, would present a danger to human life or cause serious injury. In general, pursuits for minor violations are discouraged.
2. The decision to initiate a pursuit must be based on the pursuing officer’s conclusion that the immediate danger to the officer and the public created by the pursuit is less than the immediate or potential danger to the public should the suspect remain at large.
3. Unless a greater hazard would result, a pursuit should not be undertaken if the subject(s) can be identified with enough certainty that they can be apprehended at a later time.
The entire policy is online in convenient PDF form. It reads plainly and is very similar to the guidelines O’Shea described.
We recommend all police agencies follow it, so they’re all on the same page when we’re all on the same roads.
The investigation continues into a police pursuit and multi-vehicle crash that injured at least four people Tuesday near Maple Lake.
Authorities are trying to determine what happened and whether the driver was suffering from a medical incident or had criminal intent.
The Minnesota State Patrol said 73-year-old Barbara Belka of Rockville was seriously injured in the crash. She attracted the attention of police after a guard rail was damaged in South Haven. When Annandale Police and Wright County deputies tried to stop Belka, she continued. The pursuit was called off near Maple Lake and Belka’s car caused a crash with four other vehicles on Minnesota Highway 55 near Maple Lake, the state patrol said.
“We don’t know if this is a medical or criminal situation,” said Capt. Todd Hoffman of the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.
Belka has not been arrested, Hoffman said.
Hoffman would not say how fast the driver was going when law enforcement ended the pursuit. It’s about seven miles between South Haven and Maple Lake.
The patrol said Belka was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Four other vehicles and at least three others were hurt, the patrol said.
The patrol said 55-year-old Steven Voight of St. Cloud, 20-year-old Mark Borer of Annandale and 39-year-old Wayne Paler of Annandale were taken to St. Cloud Hospital with injuries that are not life threatening.
The state patrol has not released the details of the crash.
Very special thanks to Fox25 Investigative Producer, Erin Smith (@SmithReports), for reaching out and making this story happen.
Thursday, June 2, 2016. Fox25 News.
Troopers on police pursuits have racked up 132 crashes involving cruisers and other vehicles since 2012, FOX25 Investigates uncovered.
State Police have logged 917 total chases in the past five years. A spokesman for State Police said 843 of those pursuits complied with the agency’s pursuit policy, which requires cops to end the chase if the driver is only wanted for a misdemeanor or nonviolent felony and heads into densely populated neighborhoods or congested roadways. Troopers must also frequently check in with supervisors to continue the chase.
State Police defended their record, telling FOX25 Investigates the department closely examines each pursuit.
“The fact that the overwhelming majority of pursuits comply entirely with policy reflects the discipline of our troopers in deciding when to pursue vehicles,” said State Police in a statement.
The staggering number of State Police pursuits uncovered by FOX25 Investigates comes after Massachusetts State Police last month pursuing a driver on an hour-long, multi-state chase gunned down major roads, including Route 2 and I-495 and arrested him in a New Hampshire residential neighborhood.
A New Hampshire state trooper and a Massachusetts State Police officer were later placed on leave and are under investigation after SkyFox video showed officers punching the suspect at the end of the chase.
Massachusetts State Police revised their pursuit policy in 2007 after a deadly Somerville crash. Javier Morales fled a routine traffic stop for an illegal U-turn in Everett and led police on a high-speed chase before smashing into a taxicab in Somerville, killing cab driver Walid Chahine and 23-year-old musician Paul Farris. Farris’ girlfriend Katelyn Hoyt was also seriously injured.
Hoyt spoke to FOX25 Investigates for the first time publicly about the life-changing crash that left her sedated in a coma with a shattered pelvis, a broken right wrist, a cracked sternum, broken ribs and a traumatic brain injury.
Hoyt said the recent New Hampshire chase was difficult to watch and urged police to rethink pursuits – for the safety of the officers as well as bystanders.
After Hoyt’s crash, State Police ordered an internal committee to review all pursuits.
In the past two years alone, internal reviews found 11 chases didn’t comply with State Police’s own pursuit policy.
“It certainly calls into question whether or not police ought to be involved and engaging in high-speed vehicle pursuits in the first place,” said Tom Nolan, a Merrimack College professor and retired 27-year veteran of the Boston Police Department.
Nolan said the way officers handled the end of the chase in New Hampshire shouldn’t be the only thing under investigation.
State Police couldn’t immediately provide details for the 11 chases that didn’t comply with policy and declined an interview request, but a spokesman said the violations were minor and no troopers were fired.
Last month’s chase that ended in New Hampshire is still under internal review and State Police said investigators are still compiling radio transmissions from the pursuit.
“Pursuits require continual analysis of a host of evolving factors, any of which can change in a split second over the course of a pursuit — including speed, traffic conditions, population density of the surrounding area, the nature of the underlying crime committed by the suspect, and the threat posed to the public by the suspect. This rapid-fire analysis and continual decision-making by the pursuing troopers and the shift commander at troop headquarters determine whether the pursuit continues or is terminated. Like so many other actions that we ask law enforcement officers to perform routinely to protect the public, motor vehicle pursuits require a tremendous amount of tactical skill, discipline, and clear thinking in the midst of a crisis situation. It is easy for observers on the outside to second guess those actions, but the task of the trooper or police officer who has to stop a potentially dangerous suspect and end a threat is not quite so easy.
So unnecessary. This really needs to stop.
COLUMBIA — A high-speed chase that began on Interstate 70 near Midway on Wednesday morning resulted in a two-car crash near Providence Road and Nifong Boulevard and ended in the arrest of a Macon man.
The chase began when a Missouri State Highway Patrol airplane pilot witnessed a green Chevrolet pickup speeding east past the 120-mile marker on I-70. Troopers tried to stop the driver — later identified as 24-year-old Michael C. Wills — but he sped away, leading them east on a chase.
Wills exited at Midway, traveled south on Route UU, reached Route K and went back through the Columbia city limits. The highway patrol was assisted during the pursuit by the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.
Law enforcement attempted to set up spikes to stop Wills at Route K and Providence Road, but the vehicle avoided the spikes and continued driving northbound, eventually crossing into the southbound lanes. The truck then struck a black Acura that was traveling southbound on Providence.
“(Wills) was driving very aggressively before that,” said Highway Patrol Corporal Scott Ballard.
Candice Ward, 27, of Moberly was also in the Chevrolet. Cory Via, 25, of Columbia was driving the Acura. Ward was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, but Wills and Via were not. Both vehicles were totaled.
The three individuals’ injuries were described as moderate to serious. All were taken to University Hospital.
The speed of the vehicles at the time of the crash is unknown. The investigation is ongoing.

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