Sheriff's Office Issues New Vehicle Pursuit Standards in Policy Manual

SNOHOMISH COUNTY—Last Thursday, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office added Policy 307 to its law enforcement policy manual, which details the agency's approach to how it will conduct a vehicle pursuit in the future.

In this policy, specifically Section 307.3.1, deputies are authorized to initiate a vehicle pursuit when there is a “reasonable belief” that a suspect, who has been given an appropriate signal (emergency lights and siren) to stop by a law enforcement officer, is attempting to evade arrest or detention by fleeing in a vehicle and there is reasonable suspicion that a person in the vehicle has committed or is committing a crime, poses a threat to the safety of others, and a supervisor has been notified and maintains supervisory control.

On the other hand, a police pursuit is not permitted under Policy 307 except for traffic violations, administrative violations (such as driving on a suspended license), warrants (regardless of the crime), misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, and possibly for reasons of escape.

Additionally, the policy states that alternatives to police pursuit should be considered by a deputy and supervisor.

In deciding whether to authorize a pursuit, the supervisor must consider the following factors: speed, weather, traffic, road conditions and the known presence of minors in the vehicle. The vehicle pursuit must be terminated if any of the requirements of this policy are not met, the policy states.

PIT maneuvers are permitted without supervisor approval if the speed is less than 50 miles per hour.

The policy also disapproves the use of firearms unless it meets the requirements of its strict use of force guidelines, roadblocks unless approved by a supervisor, deflating tires unless approved by a supervisor, or ramming a vehicle unless it appears there are no other alternatives.

Police officers conducting a pursuit are required to practice specific driving tactics outlined in the bureau's new policy, including not pursuing a vehicle traveling the wrong way on a roadway, highway or interstate, having a deputy available to block intersections and exits before the pursuit to avoid collisions, and contacting the Washington State Patrol or other agencies to transfer the pursuit to another jurisdiction.

The new Sheriff's Office policy also requires mandatory training for all law enforcement officers on police pursuits and requires that an annual report be generated by the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) that includes a statistical analysis of all police pursuits conducted/completed, all new law changes regarding pursuits, and all trends regarding police pursuits.

A pursuit must be terminated if the location of the suspect's vehicle is no longer known, if the pursuing vehicle sustains mechanical damage or its lights become inoperable, if there is an immediate danger to the public, if the distance between the pursuer and the suspect is so great that the pursuit becomes futile, or if the danger of the pursuit outweighs allowing the suspect to remain at large.

Police pursuits have been a contentious topic for police departments across the country since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020, which sparked controversy over whether an officer has the right to use excessive force during arrests. The incident also prompted several lawmakers to re-codify laws regarding when and how a law enforcement officer can conduct pursuits.

In 2021, the Washington State Legislature passed Substitute Bill 1054, sponsored by Rep. Jesse Johnson (D-Federal Way), which partially codified statewide vehicle pursuit regulations.

The law prohibits vehicle pursuits unless the pursuing officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a person in the vehicle has committed or is committing a violent offence, a sexual offence or an evading offence, or the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that the driver of the vehicle is committing an offence of driving under the influence of alcohol. The pursuit must also be necessary to identify or apprehend the person and the fleeing person must have posed an imminent threat to the safety of others and the safety risks associated with not apprehending or identifying the fleeing person must have been considered to outweigh the safety risks associated with the pursuit.

The law also required prosecutorial oversight, but provided certain exceptions to that requirement for jurisdictions with fewer than 10 commissioned officers.

In 2023, the Legislature passed Senate Substitute Bill 5352, sponsored by Sen. John Lovick (D-Mill Creek), which amended the regulations governing vehicle pursuits. Under the new law, the evidentiary threshold for initiating a pursuit was lowered from probable cause to reasonable suspicion that the person in the vehicle has committed or is committing one of the listed offenses. Additionally, vehicular assault and domestic assault were added to the list of crimes for which an officer can initiate a pursuit.

Rather than receiving authorization to initiate a pursuit, under the new law, officers were required to notify their superior, who then oversaw the pursuit. However, exceptions were made for jurisdictions with fewer than 15 commissioned officers, rather than 10. The new law's requirements also specified that officers must coordinate with other jurisdictions that might be affected by the pursuit and must terminate it as soon as possible.

Finally, the law requires that in order for an officer to engage in a pursuit, he or she must have completed an emergency vehicle operator course, updated emergency vehicle operator training within the previous two years, which includes training on conducting a pursuit risk analysis, and be certified in at least one pursuit response option.

In March 2023, a citizens' initiative, I-2113, introduced by the conservative group Let's Go Washington, passed both houses of the legislature and became law in June.

State Initiative 2113 changed the state’s car chase law in two distinct ways. First, the evidentiary threshold for initiating a pursuit is changed so that engaged officers could initiate a pursuit if an officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the fleeing motorist has violated the law. Second, an officer cannot initiate a pursuit unless the person being pursued poses a serious risk of harm to the safety of others and the safety risks of failing to apprehend or identify the person are deemed to outweigh the safety risks of the pursuit.

According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 29 people were killed by vehicles involved in police pursuits in Washington state between 2016 and 2022. The report further reveals that 355 people were killed each year by vehicles involved in high-speed police pursuits between 1996 and 2015. These numbers include fleeing suspects, pedestrians, other drivers, and even police officers.