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Strict Pursuit Policy In Effect In Escambia County
August 13, 2010
Following Wednesday night’s deadly crash in Brewton following a police pursuit, NorthEscambia.com is taking a look at the pursuit policy in place in North Escambia.
“We are very restrictive in our pursuit policy,” said Commander Eric Haines of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. “We probably have the strictest policy in the area.”
Haines said the department’s policy allows vehicle chases only for forcible felonies and DUI’s but only when the risk of not stopping the driver is greater than if they are not stopped.
“Let’s say your family is in that car that might be hit by the pursuit. Is it worth it for your wife to die because someone threw out a bag of crack?” is a question Haines said he presents to deputies as he explains the pursuit policy.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says about 360 people are killed each year in police chases. That’s an average of one every day.
“Police officers want to catch what they chase. The adrenaline gets pumping, and it’s hard to stop,” he said. That’s where supervisors come in, deciding in real time if any pursuit that might happen in Escambia County is allowed to continue.
When an officer does become involved in a pursuit in Escambia County, it is reviewed as seriously as if he discharged his weapon.
“That patrol car is a several thousand pound weapon flying down the street,” Haines said.
The officer’s immediate supervisor will review the pursuit, along with a patrol captain and perhaps other senior officers. If it is found that the pursuit was not justified, the deputy can receive a letter of reprimand or even be suspended from the force.
The policy also provides for limitations on forcible felonies when the danger to the public is too great. Officers are taught to carefully weigh their options before becoming involved in a chase. Many times, Haines said, officers know the identity of a driver and a warrant can be issued for their arrest at a later date, rather than becoming involved in a pursuit.
Pursuits can’t be based on “if’s”, he said, such as “what if” an unknown driver that runs a stop sight might actually be a wanted felon.
“Perhaps it is valid argument with ‘what if you could have caught them’ when someone goes on to commit a serious crime. But you are responsible for the knowledge you have at the time,” Haines said, not the various “what if” scenarios.
Simply failing to stop for a deputy is not a pursuit, according to Haines. In the event a driver fails to stop but does not pose a danger to the public, deputies are allowed to continue to attempt a traffic stop until the person takes a dangerous evasive action.
“If we had someone that failed to stop — say a drunk or someone having a medical problem — but they otherwise drove within the law, we would follow them as long as it takes.”
NorthEscambia.com graphics.
Comments
18 Responses to “Strict Pursuit Policy In Effect In Escambia County”
REGARDING:
“What he did was bluff and bluster and yell at me and carry on about
how he was doing me a favor by not writing me a ticket for 30 minutes,
and the whole time he had his hand on his gun.”
PROPER RESPONSE:
“Officer, if you believe you need to arrest me, please do so now. Do not waste your valuable time yelling at me and trying to scare me. We will let the jury sort it all out.”
That said, many times law enforcement officers hope to correct bad behavior by putting the fear of the long arm of the law into you. If it works, fine. If it fails, it was a waste of breath. And then there’re those rare occasions when they have had a bad day and are taking it out on you.
I had an officer release the students on my bus following a minor riot. He was chewing me out for not having them under control. When he paused for breath from castigating me I asked, “So you are accepting responsibility for all the children you just let off the bus?”
You could see the look of horror come over his face as he realized what he had just done and that if any of them were hurt it was all on him. He rounded up maybe half and convinced the parents to put their guns away. I felt pity for him. It’s a hard job he had.
David with the better job
Since this Brewton chase was for a domestic violence case, I assume the police knew who he was. The chase too me, should not have taken place and put anyone in jeopardy. I think they could have found him without a chase.
Realistic one
In many cases I agree with you but then again think how many times
an 85 year old man has gone berserk.
An officer never knows what he is walking up onto, they are not
clairvoyant.
I also as you say have had a young officer who stopped me and
said I cut him off when he pulled out of a gas station.
Well if you come out into traffic from a gas station it’s your responsibility
to wait till it’s clear. i didn’t tell this punk this but thats exactly what I
was thinking.
What he did was bluff and bluster and yell at me and carry on about
how he was doing me a favor by not writing me a ticket for 30 minutes,
and the whole time he had his hand on his gun. Intimidation I guess.
He was such a hot shot with his badge and gun. About a year later
he pulled my daughter over and read her the riot act for 15 minutes
and said when she pulled into a parking lot, because he was behind
her she was evading him. She was pulling into a denny’s to have
breakfast with me for crying out loud. Of course he did her a favor
and didn’t give her a ticket either.
There are good and bad people everywhere who do all kinds of
jobs.
Lets do be careful that we don’t hinder our officers so they can’t
effectively do their jobs like we did when we agreed not to use
nukes.
We let someone tie our hands of our power and now all we do
is lose wars. We are fast losing our battle with drugs, gangs and
criminals. Sometimes there will be casulties. Sometimes there
will be over zealous boys with guns who will shoot someone fleeing
from them in the back of the head, but do we really want to tie their
hands? How many lives have they saved? How many times have
victims been grateful because some wonderful young officer saved
their life or more important the lives of their children?
No system is perfect you just hope in most cases it is the best
that can be done.
One thing I don’t understand is with the threat that officers feel when
they don’t know what they are walking up onto, why in the world
are they not ticketing people who have black windows.
They scare everyone on the road. We don’t even know
who we are sitting beside at a stop light. The only reason you need
windows that dark is because you drink going down the road or worse.
Windows don’t need to be that dark to protect your seat covers.
If you violated the law while in your car like a drive by shooting or
even running a red light, no one could prove who was driving the
vehicle. This I don’t understand and I see no good reason why
they don’t chase these people down and give them a ticket.
Personaly I think Some police ,go overboard in alot of situations ,where the use of there firearms or taser or just brute force is unnesasary ,when an officer walks up to the window of a 85 year old man do they realy need their hand on their gun ,,,,Alot of these officer taking there job the wrong way instead of looking for trouble there causing more ,there way to eiger to use there training no matter who its on ,I understand they have dangerous jobs and deal with the worst people sometimes ,but they need to understand everyone is not a crack head or a rapist ,an everyone is not against them ,the amount of force they use is uncalled for most of the time
Concerned citizen… why dont you go out and commit a crime and see just how long you can “rule the land”, you people on here never cease to amaze me. Every good respectable departments have written sog’s or sop’s. The principle behind it is to curtail young officers from doing things that puts the department in jeopardy.
And if im correct all of these sop’s or sog’s are public record.. if not Mr William could not have gotten this information.
Answer for huh: The chase was with the Brewton, Alabama Police Department -
Commander Haines works for and was expressing the policy on chases for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office in Escambia County Florida. Different agencies, different policies.
Guess we can just sit back , let the criminals rule the land. Some times there is a reason to give chase … Sometimes not . We can’t just let the criminals have rule . Law enforcements hands are tied so tight now. Pretty soon when you call for help , the response you will get will be , I’m sorry mam , sir , but there is nothing we can do . If we go after them , touch them , track them , let our dog pull them to the ground , arrest them or just simply give them a warning , I could loose my job and yet worse be sued. Then my family will suffer we could lose our homes .. our job no longer lets us enforce the law. And so on and so on. You really cannot say that all chases always ends badly . Not so , plenty have been caught with no harm to anyone.
Do you really think the law will just let someone get away with commiting a crime? This article does not insinuate such as you say. They will pay for the crime they commited, but it may not be worth a high speed chase at 8 pm in the evening when you could just pick them up on arrest warrants later.
“Simply failing to stop for a deputy is not a pursuit, according to Haines. In the event a driver fails to stop but does not pose a danger to the public, deputies are allowed to continue to attempt a traffic stop until the person takes a dangerous evasive action.”
I would say the chase in brewton from the police station through town , is considered dangerous and evasive action
So if the policy is to not chase someone due to those circumstances, why did they do it?
That could have been your family driving on those roads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangerment
In the Brewton case the cop knew who the man was.Why not just arrest him later instead of risking lives by chaseing him.sad people lost their lives when,in,my opinion the chase was unneccessary.
I agree that the sheriff’s department should not release details of their chase policy. How long will it be before the general public is held hostage by suspects in vehicles who use the information about this policy to their advantage? I would think an important part of police work would be the element of surprise. Every suspect must think to himself “Can I get away with this?” or “Will they chase me?” This is not information we should be giving to criminals.
This seems like a perfect policy to me. Seems like someone with some knoledge sat down and decided what was best for Escambia Florida. I like the part of the story where it says an officer can’t react to the what ifs. As hard as it must be to refrain from chasing someone because you think what if they go mental , or what if they go beat someone , you must make your decision based on the facts you got at hand. Instead of people criticizing this policy, let it soak in.
Sound like bad policy to me. You have to use discretion but to say that we only chase forcible felonies and DUIs restricts officer discretion sends a bad messege. I feel that if a department is going to have such a restrictive policy they are CRAZY to release it to the public especially in a light that may attempt to “pul their own chain” while trying to make another department look bad. I guess everyone in Escambia County Florida now knows that they can run from the county on all traffic violations except DUI and any misd. Good luck.
Thank you for your insight Bob. I read a lot and have never seen where the numbers showed all pursuits ended bad. There can be accidents any time or any where. A few days ago a DUI driver in another state was going the wrong way on the interstate. Before she was stopped she hit another car head on—six dead. How would you have handled this–get her tag number and give her a ticket later?
Thank you Sherrif Morgan for not endangering the citizens and being proactive, instead of talking about “after the fact” or “hindsight”. With an average of 360 innocent people dying per year the facts are chases are deadly.
No Pursuit. It,s that simple. These chases always end up with bodily harm or vehicle destruction. Maybe they committed a crime or maybe they did not but more times than not they are locals and can be picked up the next day or the next week. To put the life of innocent people on the line is simply a case of bad judgment. Usually the local departments are not staffed with enough supervisory personnel to be on duty to make the call in off peak hours. I remind you several months ago a local department chases a young man seven miles deep into another state and fires a weapon into the back of his head and it was simply ruled justifiable. That particular case he was only wanted at the time for a failure to appear warrant. Again No More Pursuit.
desk commanders are able to look at what’s happening after the fact. In the Brewton case the woman had been thrown from the moving car—did she have injuries that could cause her dead? I do not know and all of the experts who weigh in AFTER THE FACT do not. There will be a hearing so let it be. The officer will live with this and from his personal contact with the victim he should be receiving caring comments.
Now this is more like what it should be.