Allow Cops to Chase Only if the Crime Warrants

Law enforcement agencies must reconsider how they deal with fleeing vehicles. The last two weeks have witnessed pursuits involving the LAPD, the California Highway Patrol and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department that have seriously injured an elderly couple out for a walk, killed an 18-year-old girl and killed a fleeing suspect.

All these agencies have pursuit policies that put safety first. Yet these policies did not protect the latest victims and their families from tragedy. Something more is needed: putting police pursuits on the same level as police shootings, i.e., something used only in the most extreme situations.

Whenever someone is killed or injured in a pursuit, a question is raised as to whether officers obeyed policy. In fact, officers generally do obey their agencies’ “safety first” policies. They just don’t interpret these policies in the same way as most of us do because of the police culture in which they operate.

This culture usually works in the public’s favor by encouraging officers to downplay danger and to take on the sometimes life-threatening tasks they must to protect us. But the culture just doesn’t work as well when it comes to pursuits.

Let’s get one thing straight: When a fleeing vehicle crashes, the driver is primarily to blame for any damage or injuries. Officers--even officers pursuing a vehicle--do not force people to drive dangerously. All the suspects have to do is stop.

But the reality is that a pursuing police patrol often encourages a fleeing driver to drive more dangerously. This poses a threat not only to the suspect but to police officers, pedestrians and other drivers. More than 60% of drivers who flee police in California have committed nothing more serious than a misdemeanor, according to the CHP. Yet these are among thousands of pursuits that contributed to a toll that included 143 fatalities from 1995 to 2000.

Pursuit policies that fail to take account of police culture will not maximize safety. Good policy--such as that used in most law enforcement agencies regarding shootings--must leave no room for misinterpretation: Pursuit must not be used with nonthreatening or nonserious offenders. It is unacceptable to endanger life except in the most extreme situations.

This would mean that some less serious offenders would get away. But it also would mean that fewer people would suffer the kinds of tragedies that we have witnessed in recent days.

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Django Sibley, a graduate student at USC, was a police officer in Hull, England, for four years.