‘Innocent People Can’t Keep Dying’
Retired Police Captain, Tom Gleason of Tallahassee, Florida, helps us answer this question during a New Zealand podcast. Gleason is a member of PursuitSAFETY’s Advisory Board and has a passion for law enforcement training. A trainer for major academies in Florida, Gleason teaches officer safety in such areas as firearms, patrol procedures, and vehicular pursuit policies.
The podcast discusses the police chase that took place in New Zealand, taking another innocent victim’s life, Carmen Yanko. She was driving to the market when a car fleeing police crossed the center line at 5.40 am and crashed head-on into her vehicle on State Highway 6 at Hope.
Tom Gleason had this to say:
“…we first started seeing changes in pursuits probably about 20 years ago with certain restrictions as far as speeding and minor offenses…They came about after the public’s outcry about the number of innocent people that were losing their lives in pursuits such as speeding vehicles. So from that, we have seen drastic reductions in the number of injuries, the number of accidents, the number of fatalities resulting from pursuits…”
There were about 500 pursuits last year, up 60% from 2014, 1 in 5 being results in a wreck; totaling 700 car wrecks last year.
Gleason states that when deciding to pursue a vehicle, police need to ask these questions:
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- Do we have a tag number?
- Can we follow up later on with these tag numbers?
- Do we have cameras on that will identify this person?
- Are there other ways we can identify this person later on?
- If so then there is no reason to chase.
The PIT
Throughout the video, we watch as the fleeing driver enters the wrong side of the road, goes through green lights, and dodges cars. The driver does everything possible to increase the risk of involving an innocent victim. During this pursuit, the police make the right choice to stop the chase by performing the PIT and decreases all possible risks of casualties. Once the vehicle was stopped everything slowed down; no police officers rushed to the driver, but they delegated each response. We must remember the hazards of pursuits and the multiple lives that are endangered during the chase. Sometimes the PIT is not always the answer or cannot be performed in the safest manner. We encourage officers to continue to think outside the box and use any alternative routes to avoid accidents, especially on crowded roads. -Savannah McIntosh
Pursuit Policy Types: Restrictive, Discretionary, or Discouraging
Human Reaction Under Stress
We must remember this job is not personal. We must take our emotions out of our job. It was not my partner or me as a person that caused this guy to flee; it was the uniform and the patrol car. It could have been anyone in uniform driving it, and the results would have been the same. We can not let our emotions dictate our response.We must remain in control to make sound and safe decisions that will result in us going home the same way we came to work. Find ways to take the stress out of your life through hobbies or exercise. We cannot win every incident we face. Just remember, as a wise instructor once taught me, bad money keeps turning back up. I promise you this was not the first time this suspect fled, and it will not be his last. The suspect will eventually get caught. Make sure you stay in both the policy and the law. But also take the time to make sure the risk is worth the reward.