On November 29th, a suspect evaded Portland Police and went on a high-speed dash through Montavilla. Per a 2017 revision to police Directives, officers did not pursue the vehicle with the hopes the driver would reduce speeds and limit the potential bystander harm. However, the car maintained unsafe speeds, moving recklessly through the neighborhood. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) says that since the 2017 change to procedure, drivers have increasingly eluded traffic stops, driving away with disregard for public safety even though Police are not following them. Now, the PPB will lower the threshold for authorizing pursuits in an effort to end a suspect’s dangerous driving behavior quickly.
Police chases are dangerous for all people involved and anyone in the vicinity. They cause hundreds of deaths per year nationwide. In 2017, the PPB’s revision to Directive 630.05: Vehicle Interventions and Pursuits was part of an American public safety trend that saw police forces limit when officers could chase a vehicle. Since the change, Portland Police could only pursue an individual suspected of having “committed a felony person crime or where the suspect’s driving conduct, prior to the initiation of a stop, displays a willful disregard for the safety of others.” Many police departments have seen reduced fatalities related to Police chases when implementing similar restrictions. However, PPB says the pendulum is swinging in the other direction as criminals become aware of the policy and use it to avoid capture by speeding away, again risking bystander safety.
Modifications to Police Directives will take effect in mid-January but do not reflect a rollback to the pre-2017 policy. The changes will provide some leeway for Officers when deciding if a pursuit will most likely keep the community safe. Currently, specific vehicle interventions rely on a suspect’s speed. In the new rules, an officer can consider all circumstances threatening public safety when deciding to box in, ram, or use a PIT maneuver on a car.
Changes to Directives also allow vehicular pursuits for Special Missions and certain known suspects. The recent Montavilla chase was part of a Stolen Vehicle Operation in East Precinct. Air support and a significant number of Police vehicles were available. PPB feels that with sufficient resources and planning during Special Missions, they can apprehend a suspect faster than other traffic stops, reducing the danger to the community. The adjustments around known suspects center on situations where not arresting a person would be more dangerous to the community than the risks from a high-speed pursuit.
The PPB intends these changes to refine the restricted policy around Police chases created in 2017. Officers must still terminate a pursuit when the safety risks to the community outweigh the benefit of capturing the suspect. The authors of these changes are adjusting to the dangerous conditions around policing. Not chasing suspects only improved public safety to a point, and Police now need to update the policies to address other life-threatening actions that evolved out of the 2017 change. It will likely take years to see if these updated Directives increase community safety and criminal apprehension. However, annual pursuit crash statistics should indicate if bystanders are at greater risk due to these modifications and prompt further updates if needed.
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