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Cops tweak pursuit policy
By JOE GORMAN
YOUNGSTOWN
The police department is changing its pursuit policy.
Staff Inspector Lt. Brian Butler said the changes clear up who is responsible for monitoring and giving orders during a chase, as well as documenting them.
Officers now will be required to fill out a form after all chases that describes where the chase was, how long it lasted, what type of vehicle they were pursuing and who made the decision to stop a chase if one is made — an officer or supervisor.
The changes take effect this week, Butler said.
The department has had no means of documenting chases, and Butler said he doesn’t know how many the department has had so far this year — because they weren’t documented.
“That’s something we have never had data for,” Butler said.
By documenting pursuits, the department can determine any trends and then adjust its training so officers on the road can be better prepared to deal with them.
Butler said that also is part of a trend under Chief Rod Foley of using data to help officers and investigators pinpoint trouble spots and then place resources where the data show they are needed.
Butler said the chain of command has been cleared up for pursuits. Under the new policy, the captain or shift supervisor has the duty to monitor all pursuits and will give orders on whether chases should continue or stop.
That includes if one of the department’s divisions other than patrol, such as the vice squad, is on a pursuit and the commander of that division is not available, Butler said. If a division commander is available when its unit is involved in a pursuit, then that commander will issue the orders, Butler said.
“The captain’s office has the ultimate command,” Butler said.
Foley said with the number of special units the department has, he wanted something in writing to make clear who is in charge when there is a pursuit.
Foley also said a prime goal is to take the decision making during a chase out of the hands of the officers involved, because sometimes they may not be thinking clearly during a chase.
The department decided to update its chase policies because of a chase in Cleveland in November that left two people dead and a lot of questions, Butler said.
Officers thought someone fired a shot at them from a passing car and chased it. The pursuit wound up involving 62 officers and 59 of them did not have permission to join the chase, according to an investigation by the state Bureau of Criminal of Identification and Investigation and state Attorney General Mike DeWine.
The man and woman in the car were killed and 13 officers fired 137 bullets at them, the investigation said. It found several lapses in decision making by supervisors during the pursuit.
Butler said after that incident, the department wants to make sure there is a clear chain of command during pursuits and that supervisory roles are clearly defined to avoid a similar incident here.
A pursuit review committee will also be formed to examine pursuits, much like the committee the department formed that meets whenever an officer has to use his weapon in the line of duty, Foley said.
Foley said he wants officers to be able to chase someone if needed, but he added if they or a supervisor have any doubts they should back off.
“We want the officers to realize there’s not anything out there worth hurting yourself for, or someone else,” Foley said. “We usually catch up with them later.”