The rules of pursuit

Re “Standoff over police lights, sirens,” April 11

As a retired career Los Angeles Police Department officer who spent many years patrolling the streets, I never thought the day would come when I would say this: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department appears to have a more reasonable approach than the LAPD as to when their officers should go Code 3 -- turn on their lights and sirens and speed off on an emergency call. Unlike the LAPD, the Sheriff’s Department seems to believe its officers are mature and trained well enough to know when a Code 3 response is appropriate.

I guarantee that the citizen being attacked, robbed or raped in the San Fernando Valley, South Central, East L.A. or San Pedro is hoping that responding LAPD officers are not plugging along at the speed limit and stopping for every red light they encounter.

In spite of what councilmen Bernard C. Parks and Dennis Zine may believe, the standards for LAPD officers are every bit as high as those for the Sheriff’s Department. Taxpayers of Los Angeles deserve to know that their police officers are intelligent enough to decide when and when not to use their red lights and sirens.

Fred Romero

Simi Valley

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Re “Pursuing a chase policy,” editorial, April 10

The public’s own attitude toward police pursuits is at least partly responsible for crashes and civilian deaths.

Police are in a lose-lose situation when it comes to pursuits, especially those of known felons. If they pursue, and a crash results, the public is angry because of the accident. However, if they fail to pursue, or end a pursuit, and the felons subsequently commit another crime, the public may be angry because the police had an opportunity to catch the felons and did not.

The LAPD’s successful pursuit strategy, while it works excellently for a large department with many resources, may not be practical for smaller departments such as La Habra, or for cross-jurisdictional pursuits, without multi-departmental coordination.

These are things that need to be considered before a blanket condemnation of pursuit policies can be made for any police agency.

Susan Buckner

Seal Beach