Police pursuit incidents fall in 2016

However, there was an increase in people failing to stop

Lethbridge Police Service saw an increase in people failing to stop for them in 2016, but the number of incidents resulting in pursuits by police is down as well.

Speaking during an annual update on pursuits this past week, Inspector Tom Ascroft told the Lethbridge Police Commission police take the issue very seriously, and a policy shift in the past number of years has been aimed at reducing the danger pursuits present to the public.

In 2016 there were 43 fail-tostop incidents reported by police. The number represents a 67 per cent increase over 2014 and 2015.

Of those 43 incidents, four resulted in pursuits by police, representing 9.5 per cent of the total number of incidents. This is a drop from 2015, which saw 20 per cent of the incidents result in a pursuit — six pursuits.

Ascroft said LPS has changed its philosophy on the practice in accordance with shifting philosophies in departments across North America.

“There was a time when, if you didn’t pull over for the police, they would chase you to the ends of the Earth,” he said. “Now, we’re very cognizant. We have policies, and the province has policies about when we will pursue.

“We have to weigh the dangers that we are going to create by causing the pursuit versus the good we hope to achieve by carrying on the pursuit. Is it worth it to cause a collision and kill somebody over a seatbelt ticket? We philosophically don’t think so anymore.”

Ascroft said a number of factors go into the decision to initiate a pursuit, and the event is closely supervised.

“A member is expected to terminate (the pursuit) if someone is not stopping,” he said. “They have to have reasons to continue. Beyond that, supervisors have to actively monitor pursuits, and they are required to terminate them if there is not a good reason to continue.”

Police file reports for any pursuits which take place. Those reports are critiqued to ensure best practices are being followed. They are then compiled for analysis and brought forward to the police commission.

“It’s a dangerous practice,” said Ascroft. “We put a lot of policy in place regarding when it can happen, and reporting after it has happened, and analyzing yearly reports. It’s something we want to manage.”

Of the 43 initial failure-to-stop incidents in 2016, the majority of stop attempts were initiated as a result of traffic offences (22) and indictable offences (16).

In the case of the four pursuits initiated by police in 2016, three were indictable offences — theft, mischief, assault and impaired driving.

One was initiated due to a circumstance involving a complaint that a vehicle may have been involved in a theft out of a neighbour’s yard.

The officer attempted to stop the vehicle. When it failed to stop, the officer initiated a pursuit in spite of a criminal offence not having been identified.

The patrol sergeant terminated the pursuit, and the event was identified as a breach of policy. It was used as a training opportunity, and current policies were reviewed with the officer involved.

All four pursuits occurred at night. No collisions or injuries were reported. Pursuits involved distances of 200 metres to two kilometres, and speeds ranged from 50 kilometres per hour to 104 kilometres per hour in a 50kph zone.

Evading police can result in a charge under the Criminal Code. Failure to stop for a peace officer is a provincial offence under the Traffic Safety Act.

These charges can be applied to additional offences which may have been the reason for the failure to stop in the first place.

“If they’re not pulling over, it’s usually because they are in a stolen car, or because they have warrants, or they just left another crime,” said Ascroft.

“There’s a fine line between apprehending criminals and not creating a more dangerous situation than the criminals were.”

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