NCJ Number
181554
Journal
Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 48-51
Date Published
February 2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Police agencies should set strict and uniform standards for starting and continuing a police pursuit to limit needless deaths, injuries, and property damage and to limit their liability.
Abstract
A 1995 study of police pursuits in Minnesota revealed that the 4,349 police pursuits involved a nearly 44 percent chance of some property pursuits. A study of the Metro-Dada Police Department revealed that 132 of the 398 pursuits in 1 year ended in a collision. Sixty-seven of the collisions occurred in pursuits that involved only a traffic violation. Forty-one pursuits ended with injuries to the defendant or passengers, 7 pursuits injured police officers, and 4 pursuits injured bystanders. A few pursuits injured more than one type of person. Another study revealed that 94 percent of the 72 agencies had written directives that police officers are responsible to end a pursuit if it becomes too dangerous to proceed. The three general types of police pursuit policies are (1) the judgmental policy, in which the pursuing officer makes all the decisions; (2) the restrictive pursuit, which dictates whether officers may or not engage in a pursuit; and (3) the discouragement policy, which several cautions or discourages pursuits except in the most extreme circumstances. Police agencies need to define and document their policies and provide uniform training. Photograph and 8 references