Where do you stand on highspeed police pursuits?

Question

I was talking to a CHP freind this morning and this subject came up, a Highway patrolman was killed on his motorcycle while chasing someone who failed to pull over. Some say the cops should never chase people because of the danger to both the officer and the traveling public. I agree it is always dangerous, but if some people have thier way and chasing is outlawed it's just one more victory for the criminals. The thugs have had a big enough impact on society lets not give them free passes to do whatever they want and they will if they know when the red lights come on all they have to do is push on the accelerator. Officers need the respect they had when I was a little guy, when an officer said stop it pretty much meant stop and no one questioned that command. Perhaps rather than banning pursuits we should let the officers catch up with the thugs who want to run and toss a grenade in the window, and yes if the window is closed shoot it out first. I bet that would stop the running!

Answer 1

Unfortunately, this topic contains a double-edged sword. Yes, you are correct, those that break the law and then decide to flee, should not be allowed to get away and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, most police departments (mine included) are afraid of the civil liability that they might be held accountable for if a police officer chasing someone (essentially only for a traffic summons) gets involved in an accident. This is especially true if the accident involves injury and/or death.

My Police Department (NYPD) will usually not allow its Highway Patrol Officers to chase an individual if a) it's way to aggressive a speed (well over 100mph) or b) if the pursuit exits the highway and goes down to the street level (which is understandable), but they don't have in place a procedure in which to attempt to later apprehend this vehicle and it's driver. A Police Officer has to be creative in order to accomplish this mission.

I have even heard NYPD supervisors calling off "pursuits" when unmarked cars have called in a license plate check for a car that they are only following (no lights, no sirens) that turns out to be stolen.

Only recently, has the legislature even made it a crime to flee the police. Before it had to be worded under a generic title of "Obstruction of Governmental Administration" (a Class A misdemeanor which usually gets plead down), "Disorderly Conduct" (a violation - not even a crime), or worst of all "Fail to Comply With Lawful Order (a simple traffic infraction).

Answer 2

personally, if someone runs from the police, they should be able to pursue... 9 times out of 10 if someone runs, they have something very large to hide. Now I will agree there is a danger with pursuits, but not pursuing, will just tell the criminals it is ok to commit crimes and so long as they run, take dangerous chances, and put the public at risk... police will not pursue. This will increase crime and still put the public at risk. The bottom line is in my opinion the public is just as much to blame for the hazard and level of danger in chases, as much as the one attempting to run from police. We are taught in drivers education, when we hear sirens and see flashing lights, we pull to the right, or remain at a stop if we are at an intersection (a.k.a do not proceed through) so that law enforcement and emergency vehicles have a route around where they will not have to guess where you are going to move to. The motoring public almost never does this, they keep driving, don't pull over right away, and will try to proceed through intersections to beat the emergency vehicles. Bottom line if the motoring public would be more vigilant, and pull over, they would be out of harms way because the one running from police would take the open lane and continue to get away with the least amount of effort.

Answer 3

As everyone else has pointed out, it sounds like its a good idea. but implementing it would be a whole other story. Rolling roadblocks are safer than say.. a line of squad cars blocking the road ahead as it reduces the chance of the Pursuee (if thats a word) panicking and making a bad mistake. but at the same time the coordination involved in a rolling roadblock is a way more involved maneuver than your standard truck driver would be capable of handling. A little off topic but dangerous pursuits may be going the way of the dodo bird with some of the new technology being developed for vehicles in the future.. more notably GM's OnStar High Speed Pursuit Preventive Technology. I've included a link to their promotional video in the source section

Answer 4

I think pursuits should be left to the officers best judgement. If there are many bystanders and pedestrians around, call off the chase, if traffic is light and its not like a blizzard out, I would go with the chase. If criminals realize that they can run and not be chased, it will just increase the # of people that commit crimes and try to get away with them.

Answer 5

The rule of thumb is they are to terminate pursuit unless the suspect poses a significant threat to the general public. I do not think that police stations should release their chase video's to the public, all it does is glorify a very dangerous situation, and could influence other police officers to make the wrong choice in a situation like that.

You need to remember that besides the cop and the criminal, there are dozens of innocent bystandards who are endangered in a high-speed pursuit.

Answer 6

Just about every police department has a pursuit policy. I believe that if officers are not allowed to pursue subjects then we will have given the keys to the city to the criminal element; I mean really...who runs in the first place? Grandma or Mr. Thug?

Answer 7

Police risk their lives daily. That is a part of their job, and they are trained to handle situations such as chases.

As for the citizens, if they don't want to be hurt, then they shouldn't run from the cops. Why in the world would you want to add another charge to the list you are running from? It doesn't make any sense to me.

It makes me angry to see criminals suing officers because they were injured during a chase THAT THEY INITIATED! Basically, they are mad they got caught, and they are mad about getting hurt when they created the danger by fleeing an officer!

Answer 8

The officer should have full permission to shoot the driver in the back of the head.
Only bad people run and they endanger everyone else around them.
Would you rather the bad guy die or some innocent crossing the street somewhere?
The are currently working on GPS tags that shoot out of the front of the patrol cars. This would work out great too.

Answer 9

Guidelines and policies for pursuits in most departments are very strict as it is. If it's known that there is a felony suspect behind the wheel but the pursuit itself is becoming too much of a threat to the public at large, ground units will discontinue....but that eye in the sky stays on them until they go to ground, and coordinates units around the suspect so that they can close in and make the arrest.

Answer 10

Most agencies have very specific guidelines concerning pursuits. Those cases involving felonies are usually the exception to discontinuing a pursuit.

However, in those cases where the safety of the general public is at hand and outweigh the crime most agencies and officers will agree to terminate the pursuit.

Best wishes.