High Speed Car Chase--Is it Necessary?

The Supreme Court is currently considering placing constitutional limits on police use of deadly force to stop fleeing suspects. The courts define deadly force as “creating a substantial risk of death or serious injury”.

According to the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 314 people were killed during pursuits in 1998. Of this total, two were police officers and 198 were individuals being chased. The remaining 114 were either occupants of unrelated vehicles or pedestrians. The total was higher in each of the four previous years.”

Because there is not a mandatory reporting system, the attempts by NHTSA to track pursuit fatalities and results account for only one-half of the actual data is collected. By pulling the 5-year totals to include 100 percent reporting, calculations would reflect an average of 375 deaths per year.

The FBI report states that one person dies every day as a result of a police pursuit and that most police pursuits involve a stop for a traffic violation. “Innocent third parties who just happen to be in the way constitute 42 percent of persons killed or injured in police pursuits. Further, one out of every 100 high-speed pursuits results in a fatality.”

Many agree that high-speed chases are dangerous and any fatality is a tragic, but if law enforcement is not allowed to protect the innocent, will a greater numbers suffer? One solution by the FBI suggests a policy be in place that would require police officers to have extensive training in “pursuit-driving techniques”. In this course police officers would learn “when” as well as “how” to pursue. Currently, police officers are only trained to know “how” to pursue.

A comprehensive study conducted by the FBI concluded that of 146 jailed suspects who had been involved as drivers in high-speed chases, more than 70 percent said they would have slowed down if the police had terminated the pursuit or even backed off, while 64 percent believed they would not be caught. FBI officials say, “Clearly, the police must be concerned with public safety during pursuits because the suspects are not.”