Nashville revamps police chase policy
The officers must also receive additional authorization from supervisors as conditions of the chase change, said Serpas, who announced the policy Friday.
“We’re trying to strike a balance between our policy, not chasing for the wrong reasons but still being cops defending the community,” he said.
Serpas said he began examining the policy before a fatal January chase happened within days after he took over the department. That pursuit led to an analysis by The Tennessean newspaper that found 67 percent of pursuits involving Nashville police in 2003 violated the department’s written policy, which says officers should chase a suspect only when a person’s life is in danger.
The fatal chase in Nashville followed a year of similar incidents across Tennessee that resulted in the deaths last July of two police officers, a baby and a passenger. Following the incidents, the Department of Safety began a study of police pursuits at the request of Gov. Phil Bredesen.
The new policy, set to begin Monday, means that if a suspect flees and an officer wants to give chase, the officer will have to radio a supervisor immediately with details. The supervisor then determines whether the pursuit should occur.
If authorization is denied, the officer must stop the pursuit, according to a copy of additions to the policy obtained by The Tennessean.
Previously, supervisors did not authorize chases at the outset but monitored them as they developed, allowing officers to proceed until ordered to stop.
Serpas says the department also is considering several other options to make suspect chases safer.
They include the purchase of more spike strips, which stop vehicles by puncturing their tires; putting more helicopters in the air over high-crime areas, and offering training in a driving technique in which an officer’s car hit a fleeing vehicle at a certain point. That throws the car into a spin maneuver, stopping the car, Serpas said.
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On the Net:
Metro Nashville Police, http://www.police.nashville.org/