Police pursuits have begun to be examined by the media and law enforcement studies after a number of high profile cases in large cities. No major study of high-speed chases has been done, and many police departments have only recently begun to track the number of incidents in their own jurisdictions.
Some of the figures cited by organizations are as alarming as they are contradictory. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report estimates that 350 deaths per year are the results of police pursuits. Over 5,300 pursuit-related deaths were reported to the federal government from 1980 to 1996, although most critics suspect this number is low. Other data places the figure far higher: 2,500 people die and 55,000 people are injured annually as a result of high speed chases. One out of four chase-fatalities are bystanders.
No one is certain how many police chases occur each year. The organization Solutions to Tragedies of Police Pursuits (STOP) claims 250,000 high-speed chases occur annually. California is thought to lead the nation, but once again no one seems certain how commanding its lead to be. The panel shows the number of pursuits recorded by the Los Angeles department. Roughly 500 to 800 have been occurring in recent years. However, Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina professor of criminal justice and expert on police pursuits, claims the number is actually closer to 10,000. (Using STOP's 250,000 estimate, could 240,000 chases occur in the rest of the state each year?) Only 1% of police chases are thought to result in fatalities, although somewhere between 17% and 45% are thought to end in some form of property damage.
More than half of police chases are initiated over traffic violations. Why? Erik Beckman, a criminal justice professor at Michigan State University argues that it's panic. "They run because they have Uncle Freddie's car, when Uncle Freddie told them not to. Or they have a six pack of beer in the car and they're underage. Or they have an expired license. Or they have an outstanding warrant." In other words, the typical runner tends to be a young male.
A recent study was conducted of 146 jailed suspects who were drivers in high-speed chases. Seventy percent said they would have slowed down if the police had slowed down or given up the chase. Fifty-three percent said they would run at all costs from the police. Sixty-two percent said they were concerned for the safety of others. Clearly, law enforcement has a crucial decision to make: to give chase or to abandon the pursuit.
Many people have argued that police should only chase suspects involved in a rape or a murder. Geoffrey Alpert argues that it isn't just a legal issue, but a moral one as well. "Police are not only sworn to uphold the law, but also sworn to protect the public." But Spike Helmick, Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, points out that the law is clear; it is a crime to flee. "If you no longer pursue people, what do you think your bank robbers and auto thieves are going to do?"
In 1998, the issue came before the Supreme Court. The parents of Sacramento teenager Philip Lewis claimed Sacramento Sheriff's deputy James E. Smith violated their son's rights to due process under the law. The teenager was accidentally struck and killed by a police car during a chase in which speeds approached 100 mph. The court ruled unanimously that police can only be held liable in such situations when their actions would "shock the conscience" — such as deliberately trying to kill someone.
The ruling was no doubt watched by police departments across the nation. Curiously, in Los Angeles — not far from the Sacramento incident — the reported number of chases increased after 1998. Was law enforcement feeling emboldened by the court's ruling? What about other states? Many departments' pursuit policies were formulated in the 1970s and are now being updated. In a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) survey of 436 law enforcement agencies, 87% had made the laws more restrictive. Many departments have also recognized officers need to know not just "when to pursue but how to pursue," as one report puts it. Again, from the NIJ report: 60% of agencies reported providing entry-level driving training at their academies (meaning 40% do not). The average time devoted to this training was less than 14 hours. Once the officer is in service, he averaged slightly less than 3 hours a year in such training. The officer receives training in actual driving tactics, but little on when to pursue, why to pursue, or how to terminate a chase with minimal risk to himself and to the public.
America seems to have a certain affection for police pursuits — the ultimate in "reality television." Stations in Los Angeles frequently interrupt broadcasts to televise the chases, sometimes with disastrous results (one cornered criminal pulled a shotgun out of his truck and committed suicide on a live broadcast in 1998). Roughly 90 million people are thought to have watched O.J. Simpson flee the police in a white Ford Bronco. The Fox network's broadcast of World's Scariest Police Chases attracted 73 million viewers during its first broadcast and two repeated airings.
Sources: Chart data comes from the Los Angeles Police Department, located online at http://www.lacp.org; Alpert, Geoffrey. "Police Pursuit: Policies and Training, National Institute of Justice Research in Brief, May 1997; Rick Van Sant. "In Police Chases, Cars Can be Deadly Weapons." Cincinnati Post, August 11, 1998; "Dangerous Pursuits: the thrill and price of police chases." Available online from http://www.abcnews.com; Aaron Epstein. "Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in High-Speed Police Chase Case ." Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, December 5, 1997; "High-Speed Police Pursuits." Available online from http://www.fbi.gov/publica tions/leb/2002/july2002; Jane Prendergast. "Cops Pursuit Rules Vary." Cincinnati Enquirer, June 17, 1997; Andrea Fine, "In a Pursuit, Should Cops Let Bonnie and Clyde Go?" Christian Science Monitor, August 24, 1999; "Real Entertainment Releases the Action-Packed World's Scariest Police Chases on Home Video." PR Newswire, June 30, 1998.
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