Mayor Richmond talks about police chase rules
Staff Writer
2010-07-27
.dmvblogspot.bloggieblog.com .
Everyone knows high speed chase are conducting by the police but , not like the old days. High speed chases are dangerous and can enjoy alot of people getting hurt to say the least or getting killed. The Mayor Richmond has spoken on this topic and released an open letter to his community.
Ensuring the public's safety is the highest responsibility any elected official has. Sadly, several months ago, we experienced the loss of a beloved community icon who was tragically killed by someone attempting to elude police officers from a neighboring jurisdiction. Reaching estimated speeds of 90-100 miles per hour through our city’s narrow streets proved to be a recipe for tragedy. Clearly, these high speed chases are one of the most dangerous situations our residents and police officers can find themselves in. Because of the inherent danger of these situations I am convinced of one thing:
We can have fewer police chases without compromising public safety.
We've been involved in an active review of existing policy and have convened several meetings with the jurisdictions of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties. We've also involved the Virginia State Police and Virginia Commonwealth University's police department. One thing is clear, even though all of our jurisdictions have pursuit policies that meet state and national accreditation standards, I believe that first and foremost we must strive to ensure the public safety of our residents and to protect innocent lives that may be put at risk whenever a high speed pursuit is initiated.
The City of Richmond’s high speed pursuit policy already includes many important considerations. First, there are several conditions that must be met before entering into a pursuit. Additionally, there are speed restrictions for our officers who are pursuing a suspect, and there are limits on the number of police units that can be involved. Existing conditions are considered, like congestion, weather, time of day and darkness. Also, every high speed pursuit is monitored and approved at several levels, which provides a greater oversight and can lead to fewer chases. In fact, Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood has already reduced by 10% the number of pursuits this year as compared to last year.
Still, I am committed to seeing a further reduction in the number of pursuits and improving police procedures so that our officers only engage in high speed pursuits in the most egregious cases.
Policing practices are, to a degree, guided by state rules and regulations. And I am very grateful for State Delegate Delores McQuinn’s efforts to review pursuit policies at the state level. We need everyone’s best thinking and efforts. But, several of the findings resulting from the review that the city initiated have already jump-started many improvements. Here are a few:
* A regional agreement that was drafted in 2003 has been reviewed and updated and is being formalized.
* An annual review of all policies will be undertaken, avoiding a multi-year lapse (like the 7 years since 2003) before policies are reviewed for effectiveness.
* We’ve identified a need for comprehensive data collection. Such data will be instrumental in our ability to make sound policy decisions to ensure that we reduce the incidence of these events.
* The communications tools between jurisdictions have been improved upon. Several technical glitches were identified that hampered communication, and they have been addressed.
* The traffic/sobriety checkpoint notification distance has been increased from one mile to two miles. Extending this radius will help provide more effective collaboration in the event that a pursuit crosses jurisdictional boundaries.
* The quality and quantity of training for officers has been enhanced and there will be greater sharing of available resources.
High speed pursuits are inherently risky undertakings. We must work to ensure that policing decisions actually improve upon public safety rather than generate unwanted outcomes. As we continue to review and improve upon the policies and procedures for the city and surrounding jurisdictions, I will continue to focus on our over-arching goal of public safety for all residents.