Chase policy

this pursuit policy blows. last night i tried to stop a vl gangbanger and he fled. i chased him anyway and didnt tell anybody. it must have lasted a good 7 minutes and i lost the scumbag behind coconut point. i've decided that for now on i'm gonna chase and not tell dispatch or anyone. what you gonna do about that, sarge? catch me if you can.

[Linebackerll]

this pursuit policy blows. last night i tried to stop a vl gangbanger and he fled. i chased him anyway and didnt tell anybody. it must have lasted a good 7 minutes and i lost the scumbag behind coconut point. i've decided that for now on i'm gonna chase and not tell dispatch or anyone. what you gonna do about that, sarge? catch me if you can.

I'm sure you'll do very well in your IA explaining how a car in front of you just flipped while going 80mph and you had not called out a 10-50. Witness statements and the driver's statements might be a nuisance. Contact Chapell for further pursuit guidence.

this pursuit policy blows. last night i tried to stop a vl gangbanger and he fled. i chased him anyway and didnt tell anybody. it must have lasted a good 7 minutes and i lost the scumbag behind coconut point. i've decided that for now on i'm gonna chase and not tell dispatch or anyone. what you gonna do about that, sarge? catch me if you can.

I agree and to go along with the above poster, try to explain why on GPS you were driving like you were. Way tooooo much liability to do something stupid like that and risk your job along with a possible federal investigation and lawsuit. If you do it by violating policy, then the department is not liable and will not cover you or your expenses to defend yourself, plus judgment awarded to the family. It is just not worth it.

If the agency don't want you to catch bad guys, then don't. Who cares if they go on about their business committing crimes? You still get paid the same.

Although I don't agree with above poster, somehow it is ok for our traffic unit to chase people that blow their "DUI" checkpoint into Collier County without calling it out on the radio.

In my opinion, our policy is way too strict. Collier/Hendry county's policy is way too loose. There are legitimate reasons to chase beside felonies. Such as drunks, signal 12 drivers (That are actually signal 12 before you light them up, could be suffering from a medical emegrency). If we let a drunk drive away or signal 12 driver drive away that is forcing cars off the road and running red lights before we even get on scene, they are obviously are not going to stop for you. If we x8 and let them continue on and they crash at the next intersection and injure or kill someone, the agency will be liable for failing to act. If we don't stop them, who will? The fire department? At least with a squad car behind them, maybe the citizens will see the lights and hear the siren and yield to the dipshit driver until we get a second unit on scene and put the car in a ditch.

The best policy is somewhere between our strict policy and Collier/Hendry loose policy.

this pursuit policy blows. last night i tried to stop a vl gangbanger and he fled. i chased him anyway and didnt tell anybody. it must have lasted a good 7 minutes and i lost the scumbag behind coconut point. i've decided that for now on i'm gonna chase and not tell dispatch or anyone. what you gonna do about that, sarge? catch me if you can.

I think I saw this chase! Were you driving a tow truck and the other car had a personalized tag that said "IMAVL". Anyone can see this post is BS and its not hard to figure out who wrote it.

this pursuit policy blows. last night i tried to stop a vl gangbanger and he fled. i chased him anyway and didnt tell anybody. it must have lasted a good 7 minutes and i lost the scumbag behind coconut point. i've decided that for now on i'm gonna chase and not tell dispatch or anyone. what you gonna do about that, sarge? catch me if you can.

Just make sure you disconnect that GPS before you do.......

Catch me if you can sucka. Vrooooooooooooooooooooooooom.....

Sometimes, on a slow night, I will start a 31V in NN D1, and head the chase toward the Lee County line. Shortly before crossing the Lee County line, I turn off my emergency lights and doff my polyster trousers. This provides the dual benefit of anonymity and genital cooling. I then watch from a safe, yet naked distance, as you LCSO clowns drop the ball every time. I then usually steal a couple of garbage can lids and go back to Collier County where real chase policies exist.....

Sheephead

To sum up the comments from a recent article on the internet

The loony tune crowd has apparently taken over the rule making in this country. Pretextural stops for minor traffic violations yield far more felony arrests and DUI arrests than any other routine enforcement procedures. We should get rid of the brass who think their [unknowledgable] approach to law enforcement is in the best interests of the public. What's with this "hug a thug" mentality? Do they think all crime is going to go away? Why is the police vilified when the person fleeing is the one that made the decision to run?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Rifkin -serial killer convicted of the murder of nine women (although it is believed he killed as many as 17).

Police finally caught up to Rifkin in June 1993, when state troopers spotted his pickup truck without license plates(traffic violation) on the Southern State Parkway. A high-speed chase ended in Mineola, where he crashed into a utility pole which was located directly in front of the courthouse in which he would eventually stand trial. Troopers detected an odor from the back of the truck. It came from the corpse of Tiffany Bresciani, 22.

Had Rifkin ran from LCSO, he would have been free to go and murder many more women!

You can't have a blanket pursuit policy. Every pursuit needs to be considered on a case by case basis. We need to train our deputies on how to conduct safe pursuits. We cant be responsible for the criminal, but we can be responsible for our actions. At the end of the day, as long as the deputy is operating in a safe and prudent manner, catch them or not, we gave our best to protect the public. 3pm on US41 and 2am on I-75 are way different from each other.

Some agencies proactively police, others take reports. Some agencies put criminals that run from them in heavy traffic and endangering everyone else in a ditch, others x8. We have no control over judicial system, but that is not our job. Our job is to put criminals where they belong... jail!

I've always found this chase policy interesting and I guess what it boils down to is what 1ofmany said in jest, a traffic stop is voluntary. Perhaps not entirely true, but pretty darn close. It is my understanding that when a deputy tells dispatch that the vehicle isn't stopping and they are no longer pursuing the stop the dispatcher closes out the call. But, it is also my understanding that the good dispatchers know that the deputy is still following the vehicle and will most likely keep the call open for a period of time just in case the sh!t hits the fan.

Has this no chase policy always been something Lee County has enforced? Do you find most deputies want to be able to pursue a vehicle for a minor traffic stop? Seems to me if a vehicle isn't going to stop, they have something to hide??

Thats funny b/c it is also my understanding a good deputy will not tell their dispatcher (and every other person on the radio) their x8 when their not after their Sgt or higher has told them to x8........ those are normally the ones that end up in trouble while the dispatcher laughs at their dumb a$$