New York Metropolis’s police division is curbing its use of high-speed chases after discovering that about one-quarter of greater than 2,200 initiated by officers final yr led to a collision, property harm, bodily hurt or loss of life.
A brand new coverage efficient Feb. 1 will restrict automobile pursuits to solely probably the most critical and violent crimes, barring them for visitors infractions, violations and nonviolent misdemeanors.
Officers will even must take into consideration whether or not a pursuit would go by a residential neighborhood or close to a faculty or playground, Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned. They are going to have discretion to terminate chases if they don’t really feel it may be continued safely.
Final October, a bicycle rider was struck and killed by a pickup truck that police had been chasing after a suspected theft in Queens.
“The NYPD’s enforcement efforts must never put the public or the police at undue risk, and pursuits for violations and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary,” Tisch said in a statement. “The advanced tools of modern-day policing make it possible to apprehend criminals more safely and effectively than ever before, making many pursuits unnecessary.”
Of two,278 pursuits final yr, about two-thirds concerned a automobile fleeing a visitors cease. Lots of these wouldn’t be allowed beneath the brand new coverage, the NYPD mentioned.
The division mentioned it’ll prepare all uniformed officers within the new coverage and conduct month-to-month evaluations to make sure it’s being adopted. It would additionally difficulty an annual report monitoring compliance.
In keeping with 911 knowledge obtained by the web site Streetsblog NYC, automobile chases spiked from 15 in January 2022 to 227 in January 2024. Police made greater than 100 pursuits every month from July 2023 to September 2024, the final month for which knowledge was obtainable, in keeping with the positioning.
