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Portland Police Chief Bob Day announced Friday that the bureau is loosening restrictions on car chases in an effort to discourage suspects from fleeing.
“We have seen a significant propensity for criminal suspects to elude traffic stops, often driving extremely dangerously despite no officers chasing them,” the bureau said in a statement.
The new policy will allow officers to pin suspects with their cars at higher speeds, and broadens their authority to initiate pursuits, particularly in cases involving nonviolent but hot-button crimes like shoplifting and street racing.
The changes come six years after the bureau tightened its policies, following the lead of departments nationwide that hoped to limit bystander deaths. Researchers estimate that around 300 people die from police pursuits nationwide every year, including a 40-year-old woman in Gresham killed in September.
But officers say that tightening has made their job harder.
“Anecdotally, suspects have repeatedly told officers that they are aware of PPB policy and they are more likely to try to elude thinking their chances of escape are higher in Portland than other jurisdictions,” says the police statement.
Capt. Franz Schoening, leader of the bureau’s training division, says officers in the bureau had expressed a desire to loosen the policies.
These concerns have been shared elsewhere, sometimes with different results. Earlier this year, WW examined the case of a Washington County deputy who quit his job after criticizing superiors’ orders not to pursue a man who was known for fleeing police.
