Posted: 6/18/2010 8:59:47 AM EDT
| I got into my first pursuit last night. I was with a partner so he was driving while I was calling it out. Saw a vehicle with no plates and busted out taillight turned on it and caught up with it about 6 or 7 blocks away. When we finally get in behind him he runs a stop sign so we light him up an attempt to stop him. We go about a block at a normal slowing down speed approaching a traffic circle then all of the sudden he takes off. I asked for our helo but it was not up, so I had to declare pursuit. Went 2 blocks in one direction then a quick turn right when a passenger tossed a gun. Went another 4 blocks before we terminated pursuit because he drove over someones lawn to make a turn. We have 3rd party liability here so to continue a pursuit is nearly impossible, unless its a felony and even then its tough. Wasn't bad for my first. If I was still on midnights it would have been better because there isn't as much traffic around. |
I had to let me first one go too, and I know it really gives you a shitty feeling. I work in a rural area and clocked the car on one of our US Highways doing over 80 in a 55, hit the lights and turned and he was GONE! I tried to catch up, and eventually got close enough that he pulled over, but as soon as I got close he took off again. I was doing 115 trying to catch up and he was whipping around other cars passing them to get away. I took it to the county line and terminated it, since the other county said they wouldn't persist it due to the only violation being for speed. Never did find out who it was, or even if I got the correct plate number.  I was told by a much more experienced officer that I did the right thing, and that if he's foolish enough to do something like that, he'll get whats coming to him soon enough. |
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It really chaps my ass when one gets away. It doesn't happen too often as we have a pretty good pursuit policy. I also don't like it when one gets called off by the shift supervisor. Even though I agree with the decisions and why, I hate when some shitbag (gotta be running for a reason) gets away.
My favorite excuse from someone that runs is "You scared me". Seriously? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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That's what I miss about the sheriff's office where I was a deputy in the late 90's. Our pursuit policy:
1. No ramming and don't wreck your unit. 2. Buckshot is cheaper than spike strips, so if you're in a clear area shoot for the tires. 3. Chase 'em till you run out of fuel. 4. If a pursuit starts in the county, they don't make it out of the county. If a pursuit comes into the county, they don't make it out of the county. Damn, that job was a lot of fun. 
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Wow, that really sucks that you had to terminate your first pursuit.
Good job not getting caught up in the moment and breaking policy. The ONLY discipline I have in my file (which was a written) was for a chase violation. The crazy thing is that I was also given a merit award for the same incident. 
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We have 3rd party liability here so to continue a pursuit is nearly impossible, unless its a felony and even then its tough. No qualified immunity at all? If you have a 3rd party liability, you will also be responsible for not forcibly stopping the pursuit, when it meets the legal criteria. What is your policy like in that area? |
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I absolutely HATE having to terminate a pursuit. Sure, the reason you initiated may not sound like much, but the reason they're running (or the fact they're running) justifies the chase. We have one supervisor that shuts you down automatically, no matter what. I made a traffic stop and as I was walking up to the vehicle, they took off. I started calling out pursuit as I was running back to my unit - he shut me down. That one worked out for the better because the idiot drove straight home thinking he got off scott free. The only other one I've had shut down started going into a residential area. Fortunately enough on that one, the kids were spooked enough they dumped the car a few blocks away from where we terminated. We ended up tracking them down too. |
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We have 3rd party liability here so to continue a pursuit is nearly impossible, unless its a felony and even then its tough. No qualified immunity at all? If you have a 3rd party liability, you will also be responsible for not forcibly stopping the pursuit, when it meets the legal criteria. What is your policy like in that area? Not sure I understand your question. The 3rd party liability has hampered us from the start. It's there so that if an outside party not involved gets hurt or has something damaged then the city is liable for that damage. Pursuits are very hard to justify unless like I said it's a felony. We're told all the time "NO PURSUITS". My pursuit was at 4pm in a residential area with moderate traffic, so it was either we terminate or my Sgt was going to, which he attempted to but was cut off by dispatch. I'm pissed that this guy got away, because it looks like he was involved in an armed robbery about an hour before hand but we did not have that information at the time of the pursuit. |
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You don't have qualified immunity?
If you have 3rd party, you would be liable not only for the other's actions, but your choice not to act. By choosing not to pursue or discontinuing a pursuit, you could be liable for the negative outcome. Do you have a defined policy or is it very broad? |
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just remember what you are chasing and why, sometimes its just not worth the risk. +1 I called off my first pursuit. Saw a car parked on a side street, got that "feeling" and turned down the street to FI him. Soon as he saw me he pulled off, I stayed behind him for a bit to run the tags, came up stolen. Once I hit the cherries, he took off. I was on him too, for a good while, but then he started blowing lights without even stopping. My gut told me someone was going to get hurt, so I got on the air and called it off. Ended up getting an "attaboy" from the shift commander the next day for keeping my cool and having the sense to call off a pursuit. Wish we had one of the helicopters up, then it would have been a different story. I hate letting anyone get away, but sometimes, you gotta know when to fold 'em. Now a foot pursuit on the other hand... ETA: Did not see that someone tossed a gun. We chased a guy half way across the city once for HGV. |
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I got into my first pursuit last night. I was with a partner so he was driving while I was calling it out. Saw a vehicle with no plates and busted out taillight turned on it and caught up with it about 6 or 7 blocks away. When we finally get in behind him he runs a stop sign so we light him up an attempt to stop him. We go about a block at a normal slowing down speed approaching a traffic circle then all of the sudden he takes off. I asked for our helo but it was not up, so I had to declare pursuit. Went 2 blocks in one direction then a quick turn right when a passenger tossed a gun. Went another 4 blocks before we terminated pursuit because he drove over someones lawn to make a turn. We have 3rd party liability here so to continue a pursuit is nearly impossible, unless its a felony and even then its tough. Wasn't bad for my first. If I was still on midnights it would have been better because there isn't as much traffic around. Once you have a good, confirmed crime, it's on. Not to make you feel worse, but what happens when ballistics on that gun comes back to a murder? My first pursuit was a GTA were the suspect ended up in some ladies lawn. I did OK until I jumped out of the driver's door... but forgot to take my seatbelt off.  Damn near gave myself a concussion getting slung back into the car. Suspect got away. Can't win them all.
John |
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I had my first "official" pursuit last week. I had chased cars before, but not like then. Car comes off of a residential street, and keeps accelerating, and keeps accelerating, and keeps accelerating up to about 80 in a 35. I get up to him and he yanks a hard left onto another street, so I lit him up. He ran, HARD, and when we got close to our main thoroughfare through the city, I de-activated my lights, as I knew it would change the ball-game to get out on the main stretch. As soon as I did, I saw the guy floor it through a red light, lose control and wreck out on the opposite corner. I hit my lights again, only to see the guy pull down off the curb and keep going, so I decided to give it a little more time, at least let traffic know this guy was nuts. He gets into the left hand turn lane, signals, and then jerks it HARD to the right, veering off the road through a bank parking lot, destroying bushes and lawn sprinklers, before going airborne and landing just in front of the bank building. He killed his lights and pulled out again, so I terminated it for good. This guy had a reason for running. I don't know what it was, but to him it was worth it.
I went back into the neighborhood where I saw him leaving, just in case he left somebody for dead or committed some kind of crime, but nothing was to be found. Sometimes, letting them go just makes sense. If they prove that they are willing to risk it all, I'll catch 'em later. I've still got the tag, so if I see him parked somewhere, we're going to finish the conversation, but until then, no sense in letting it bother me. |
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You don't have qualified immunity? If you have 3rd party, you would be liable not only for the other's actions, but your choice not to act. By choosing not to pursue or discontinuing a pursuit, you could be liable for the negative outcome. Do you have a defined policy or is it very broad? Our policy if pretty defined. Once we call off the pursuit we need to give out details, mine was something like this "We are terminating pursuit, vehicle last seen East bound on XXXX St., Emergency Equipment is off and we've turned the cruiser around now heading West Bound on XXXX St." After that whatever happens is on the other driver. As for the gun, at the time we did not know it was a gun just that something was thrown from the vehicle. Sorry I should have clarified that. We did have a witness who saw him throw the gun and stood by it until we came back for it. |
| I had my first pursuit today. Guy on a sport bike does a wheelie right in front of us. We light him up. He looks back at us and takes off. He's doing over 100mph in heavy traffic. Pursued for all of 2 minutes and called it. Really really sucks when they get away. But I know he'll get caught eventually or pull the same shit and kill himself. |
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That's what I miss about the sheriff's office where I was a deputy in the late 90's. Our pursuit policy: 1. No ramming and don't wreck your unit. 2. Buckshot is cheaper than spike strips, so if you're in a clear area shoot for the tires. 3. Chase 'em till you run out of fuel. 4. If a pursuit starts in the county, they don't make it out of the county. If a pursuit comes into the county, they don't make it out of the county. Damn, that job was a lot of fun. Are these guys hiring??
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Always remember your driving fundamentals and drive 80% of your max. Stress driving skills, like shooting are perishable.
1. High visual horizon. 2. Shuffle steer, avoid biometric lock-up. 3. High entry to turns, low apex, high exit. Good eye placement will help with this. Stay one step ahead. Look to your exit before you hit the apex. Where you look is where you are going to go. 4. Smooth throttle application 5. Straight line braking before the turn, coast through the apex, smooth acceleration out. Don't be afraid to threshold brake. Never enter turns at maximum... efficient driving wins over speed every time. Remember, most runners (including "sports car" kids) can't drive worth a crap, so don't follow their lines. 6. 3-4 second space cushion (again NEVER follow suspect's lines.) 7. Clear those intersections, especially the blind ones. 8. Drive within policy. 9. Transmit updates in straightaways... never in a turn. Windows up. 10. Call out approaching intersections, not the ones you have passed. Combat breathing helps but is not always possible using the radio. The adrenaline dump is inevitable, minimizing it's effects any way you can will help you avoid tunnel vision and "panic radio." We only have to come in second. |