Less air time for police chases?

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton may try to cut the chase in the near future, and it has some local television news executives worried.

In the next few weeks, the LAPD is expected to finalize a report to the Los Angeles Police Commission that recommends banning a majority of police pursuits that begin as minor infractions. The proposal comes in response to a series of high-profile chases and collisions this year that resulted in a death and several injuries.

Related to Bratton’s broad initiative on police chases, the LAPD is also considering asking television stations to eliminate or significantly reduce their coverage of live police chases. The broadcast of police pursuits is more entertainment than informative, Bratton has said publicly and in informal discussions with local news executives, and could be interpreted as encouraging criminal activity.

Such a change would mark a distinct shift for local TV stations. At least since O.J. Simpson led police on a low-speed drive through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles soon after his ex-wife and her friend were killed, Los Angeles television stations have had a fascination with police chases. It’s not uncommon for local news to devote large chunks of their broadcasts to helicopter shots of police pursuits.

It seems to be a largely local phenomenon, owing to the extensive freeway system and wide surface streets that make chases possible, and the willingness of local stations to televise the pursuits.

The possibility of Bratton formally calling on news stations to cut down on their coverage of police chases already has prompted defensiveness and nervousness among some news executives. Although the live broadcast of such chases has been controversial for years, news directors have traditionally maintained the coverage is newsworthy, and useful for warning residents and commuters about police activity in the region.

The broadcasters privately admit that police pursuits are often audience grabbers that boost ratings, and that they must provide live coverage to stay competitive.

Expressing some anxiety about a potential plea by Bratton, one Los Angeles news executive said, “This is something I don’t even want to think about right now. I really have to think it through carefully. I want to see what the chief wants.”

However, the executive added, “I really haven’t seen the last time that news coverage of a police chase caused an accident.”

At least for now, the local stations have some breathing room. Deputy Chief Gary J. Brennan said this week that Bratton -- who has already met casually with several news executives and voiced his concerns -- has no immediate plans to formally approach the stations about their coverage.

“The chief is still working through many issues, and our primary focus [is] changes in the pursuit policy,” Brennan said.

Although the television coverage of pursuits is not currently a high priority, “Chief Bratton is still very concerned about it,” Brennan said. “He feels that the chases are shown less as news stories and more as entertainment or like sporting events. The coverage tends to make these things into a spectacle. It’s like it’s great fun, showing suspects running from the police.”

Under consideration is a ban on the use of minor infractions -- such as broken taillights, missing license plates or minor traffic violations -- to justify a pursuit.

Those sorts of offenses account for at least 60% of all pursuits by the LAPD, according to a review by the police commission, which under the city charter must approve department policy.

Said Brennan: “It’s a double-edged sword. We want to manage the pursuits. But if we become too restrictive, then we create a situation where the suspects can use our policies against us and then get away.”

KNBC executives have already expressed some reluctance to change their policy on covering chases.

“Since we do not automatically cover or air car chases, the LAPD’s decision to reduce car chases will have little effect on our news,” station officials said in a statement. “Our coverage or non-coverage of a breaking news story, whether it is a fire, accident, car chase, earthquake, etc., is determined by the merits of that particular story. The depth, length and placement of coverage is determined by how relevant we think the news is to our readers.”

News executives at KABC, KCBS, KCAL, KTTV, and KCOP all declined to comment on the record.

But local news stations will likely face a delicate situation if they are approached by Bratton about stopping or eliminating coverage of police pursuits. News executives would be under no obligation to follow the chief’s suggestions, but conceivably they could be drawn into a public relations battle with Bratton, who is known for his outspokenness.

Jeff Wald, news director of KTLA, said he shares the chief’s concerns about police chases.

“It’s become really ridiculous,” Wald said of the televised police pursuits. He said his station (owned by the Tribune Co., which also owns the Los Angeles Times) does not usually break into regular programming to cover a police pursuit unless there is “a major reason.”

But Wald added that news executives still have to make hard decisions about the newsworthiness of pursuits, particularly if large numbers of people are affected.

Wald has experience with the perils of covering live police pursuits. In 1999, KTLA was one of three Los Angeles stations to cover a live three-hour chase through four counties that ended with the killing of the suspect after he brandished a gun at officers. The shooting was broadcast live by television news helicopters.

That incident was reminiscent of a situation in 1998 when several local stations aired close-up shots of a man committing suicide at a freeway interchange.

Criticism by viewers and others of the coverage of those shootings prompted several news directors to say they would reevaluate their live coverage of pursuits and consider using a seven-second delay mechanism in case the events turned tragic.

But those devices were never used, and car chases still pop up often.

“We take a different approach to covering these chases ever since the suicide,” Wald said.

“But there are still criteria that justify covering them, especially if it’s a dangerous situation. We know the chief is concerned. We’ll have to see what happens.”