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 According to a recent article in the Kansas City Star, Independence, Missouri police officers terminated more high-speed pursuits in September than they had in any of the eight prior months of 2007. That fact was made public in an Independence police study detailing the department's pursuit activities. Independence police terminated four pursuits in September. During the previous eight months, they ended a combined eight pursuits.
But Independence Chief Fred Mills says the trend is positive, suggesting that more officers were weighing all possible factors during high-speed pursuits. "I think you see trends where we were terminating pursuits, and where some of the pursuits were lasting less time," Mills told Brian Burnes of the Kansas City Star. "Hopefully, the word is getting out there that we shouldn't make a situation worse by failing to stop."
The department put the statistics together in response to an Independence City Council request. Renee Paluka-White, the city's 3rd District councilwoman, asked for the review after a sequence of high-speed pursuits ending in the deaths of two drivers trying to flee police and a 17-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a third fleeing driver. All of those incidents occurred over a ten-day period. Paluka-White said she was pleased with the trend toward fewer pursuits.
"I was pleased to learn that we didn't always pursue and that, based on decisions by our officers, we sometimes backed off," she told the Star. The department's current pursuit policy has been in place since 2004. It directs that the officers' decision to begin a pursuit rests with the individual officer.
But City Manager Robert Heacock says the same policy also includes specific language urging officers to perform these tasks as safely as possible, keeping the safety of the public their highest priority. In addition, the policy directs officers to avoid pursuits if possible and to not pursue for violations such as traffic violations and misdemeanors.
The policy places responsibility for any reckless disregard for the safety of innocent persons on the officers involved. "These officers live with the accidents that may result and are very mindful of the ramifications," Heacock said. The statistics for the first nine months of 2007 do not suggest significant statistical trends away from numbers generated during 2005 and 2006, Heacock said, adding they do not bear out changing policy.
While Independence allows individual officers the discretion to decide whether to pursue, some municipalities have different guidelines, said Mills, who recently spent a term as president of the Kansas City Metro Chiefs and Sheriffs Association, an organization of Kansas City area law enforcement executives. In Independence each pursuit is reviewed immediately and statistics are compiled on a quarterly and annual basis. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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