Pinellas deputies will seize cars used to flee police, sheriff says

Are you leaving a Pinellas County deputy? From Tuesday you will lose your car.

The new policy aims to reduce dangerous high-speed police chases, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference Wednesday. While many states allow police to seize cars involved in crimes, Pinellas is the first law enforcement agency in the nation to adopt a blanket seizure policy for eluding cases.

“If you own a car and value it, don’t run from the cops,” Gualtieri said.

The sheriff's office can seize the vehicle at the time of arrest or at a later date, even if the driver does not own the car. In those cases, Gualtieri said, deputies will issue a written warning informing the car's owner that it was used to commit a crime, and if the car is involved in a second escape attempt, it will be seized.

“The message: Everyone must be responsible,” Gualtieri said. “Don’t let them use your car anymore. And if you do and they show up again, then it's your fault.

Gualtieri said this policy would also apply to rental car companies whose vehicles are used to flee deputies. He said the department is aware of drivers renting a car, running from deputies, abandoning the vehicle and repeating the cycle with a new rental.

“I'll just tell you how it is: There are rental car companies that cater to people involved in criminal activity,” Gualtieri said. “A lot of these rental car companies know exactly what’s going on.”

The new policy is not the first step the sheriff's office has taken to reduce police pursuits: In 2014, Gualtieri raised the threshold at which officers can pursue suspects in cars, reserving such pursuits only when there is an “imminent danger to the police”. the public.”

Before the change, Pinellas was the scene of about 100 police chases each year, according to Gualtieri. Since then, that total has fallen to around 10 per year, compared to just five in 2023.

While other agencies — including the Florida Highway Patrol — have since relaxed their pursuit policies, Gualtieri said his office will continue to avoid them unless absolutely necessary, citing danger to the public.

“Hunting more does causes more injuries and more deaths,” Gualtieri said. “The answer here in Pinellas County is to have consequences that matter for people who run from police.”

Even without police pursuing them, escape attempts are dangerous and can have deadly consequences. Gualtieri made his remarks alongside photos of two serious crashes: one that left a teenager dead in October 2022 and a high-speed ambulance collision that injured four people last month.

From 2019 to 2022, the number of fatal accidents due to police pursuits increased by 40% compared to the previous three-year period. according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These accidents caused 1,919 deaths.

Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminal justice and criminology at the University of South Carolina, hailed the new seizure policy as an important step in discouraging flight from police.

“Anything that keeps people from fleeing and police from chasing them is a positive step,” Alpert said. “If you impound the car, it might deter other people. It can't hurt.

Bryant Scriven, a Tampa defense attorney experienced in asset forfeiture cases, raised concerns about the widespread use of state rights. evasion law to seize cars.

“We see fleeing arrests all the time when you literally just have to go half a mile or go down to the next block to park in a lighted parking lot or gas station,” said Scriven.

Between January 2022 and April 2024, the policy could have allowed the sheriff's office to seize up to 1,042 cars — the number of fleeing and eluding violations. deputies during this period, even if some violators are repeat offenders, according to Gualtieri.

The policy doesn't mean owners can't get their vehicles back.

Under Florida's civil forfeiture laws, anyone whose property is seized by police is entitled to an initial hearing in court to evaluate whether police had probable cause to believe the property was involved in a crime. The property owner also has the right to a jury trial to determine whether he knew or should have known that the property would be used to commit the crime.

The sheriff's office must notify the owner within five days of the seizure and begin forfeiture proceedings within 45 days, or 60 days if it can demonstrate “good cause” to a judge, according to the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. Once notified, the owner has 15 days to request a first hearing to cancel the seizure. Otherwise, they will have to wait to go before a jury.

If the The court rules in favor of the seizure, Gualtieri said, the sheriff's office will then sell the vehicle and use the proceeds for charitable purposes and public services.

These revenues will be donated to the Pinellas County Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which gives money to local nonprofits and also funds some police equipment, like rain gear, medical tools -legal and cameras.

Gualtieri said the sheriff's office will not put any of the seized vehicles into service, as other law enforcement agencies in Florida have done. The Panama City Beach Police Department, for example, confiscated a 2022 C8 Corvette in April 2023 and has since repainted and deployed it for community events.

Alpert, who began investigating police pursuits in the 1980s in Miami, said he hoped the possibility of vehicle seizures would not create a “perverse justification” for unnecessary police pursuits.

Scriven said if the new policy led to excessive arrests and seizures, it would be up to the courts to resolve those issues.

“There will be officers on the street making a decision, and they won’t always be right,” he said. “I imagine there will probably be a lot more forfeiture litigation, in all honesty, as a result of this.”