Lodi officer discusses vehicle pursuits
Vehicle pursuits are a part of almost every law enforcement officer’s reality, and the Lodi Police Department is no different.
While these pursuits can present potential safety hazards for officers and civilians alike, officers take numerous precautions to minimize the risks as much as possible, according to Lt. Sierra Brucia, one of Lodi PD’s Public Information Officers.
When officers are driving under Code Three conditions, with lights and sirens activated, they are exempt from the vehicle codes that would otherwise apply, Brucia explains. Even in a Code Three situation, such as a pursuit, the officers are required to exercise due regard for public safety, including being aware of traffic and pedestrians, weather conditions, proximity to school zones and speed limits, as well as other situational factors that may influence how an officer drives.
On Halloween, Brucia gives as an example, officers must be aware of the high number of trick-or-treaters in costumes and masks walking in the streets. Lodi’s weekly farmers market would also influence officers to direct a pursuit away from the Downtown area to help minimize potential risks to the public.
During a pursuit, officers do their best to clear intersections when possible. While they might not always stop for red lights, they do try to slow down when they can, as other drivers might not hear the sirens. Pursuing officers also monitor the speed of both their vehicles and the suspects’ vehicles, as well as the flow of traffic.
When necessary, an officer might turn the pursuit over to another officer, or even a different law enforcement agency in the area. There are now concrete rules that govern every single pursuit, as officers frequently have to make split-second decisions.
“Every situation is a little bit different, but we train constantly to be as prepared as possible. We review our pursuit policies at least once a year, and we attend Emergency Vehicle Operation Center, or EVOC, training every other year. We also have regular briefings where we go over possible scenarios in which an officer might have to initiate or terminate a pursuit,” says Brucia.
An officer might initiate a pursuit if they believe a suspect is trying to evade arrest or flee, although they must take into consideration the severity of the suspected crime.
More serious crimes such as murder or armed robbery would receive higher priority for pursuit, while an officer might be less likely to chase down a car for running a stop sign.
Public safety is another factor. A suspect who engages in a shoot-out with police would most likely present more of a danger to the public, and officers would be more likely to engage in a vehicle pursuit if the suspect attempts to flee. Officers also consider the need for immediate capture.
If they know who the suspect is and where they live, they might decide not to pursue the vehicle, instead choosing to apprehend the suspect at a different location where the officers can better plan how to arrest the suspect safely.
The pursuing officer’s familiarity with the area also affects the decision to initiate a pursuit.
“If I’m in Lodi, where I know the one-way streets and dead ends, I would be more likely to pursue a suspect because I know where I can cut them off and trap them away from the public, versus in Stockton where I don’t know the area as well,” says Brucia.
Officers must also consider their vehicle’s capabilities before beginning a pursuit. If the lights or sirens do not work, the car would not be exempt from vehicle codes, and other vehicles would not have enough advance warning to pull over to the side of the road, out of the officer’s way.
The presence of other passengers in the suspect’s vehicle is another factor of which officers must be aware, such as children or kidnapping victims.
The availability of additional officers for back-up would also influence the decision to initiate a pursuit or not, as well as the presence of civilian ride-alongs in the pursuing officer’s vehicle.
A pursuit can be terminated for any of the above reasons, such as a police vehicle’s lights or sirens malfunctioning during the pursuit.
A pursuit may also be called off if the distance between the officer and the suspect grows too large, such as with motorcycles that can travel faster than a car, or if the officer loses sight of the suspect.
The officer’s supervisor may also instruct them to terminate the pursuit for any number of reasons, according to Brucia.
Police officers have a few different techniques and pieces of equipment to disable a suspect’s vehicle, such as a 9foot “stop stick.” Similar to a spike strip, a stop stick consists of three pieces that unfold when thrown onto the road and deploy spikes to damage the vehicle’s tires, causing them to gradually lose speed instead of stopping suddenly.
Lodi PD recently replaced spike strips with stop sticks as too many officers around the country have been injured while deploying the strips, which must be unrolled by hand across the road, putting officers at risk of being hit by either the suspect’s vehicle or other oncoming traffic.
Another method of disabling a suspect’s vehicle is the Pursuit Intervention Technique, or PIT Maneuver, although Brucia explains that Lodi officers rarely use this technique. In a PIT Maneuver, the officer uses his or her vehicle to nudge the rear corner of the suspect’s, causing the suspect to spin out and his or her engine to stall.
This method is generally reserved for slower pursuits of 35 mph or less, as it presents a serious safety hazard to both the officers and the public. The maneuver also presents an additional risk for the officers, due to the proximity to the suspect required for it to work.
“The PIT Maneuver doesn’t work as well on newer cars, a lot of them have electronics to prevent the engine from stalling when they spin out,” Brucia adds.
Officers may sometimes employ systems such as On Star to prevent a stolen vehicle from starting, eliminating the need for a pursuit in the first place.
Brucia points out the lights on the roof of a Ford Explorer Police Interceptor, as well as those on the push bumper and near the headlights, explaining their purpose of making the vehicle as visible as possible.
“We really only want marked patrol vehicles for pursuits. A motorcycle is just not as safe as a car, and unmarked vehicles are not as noticeable, even though they do have some lights. People expect to see a marked car driving at high speeds, not an unmarked sedan,” says Brucia.
While a motorcycle or unmarked police car may initiate a pursuit, they are replaced by a marked vehicle as quickly as possible to minimize the risk of traffic collisions.
While collisions do sometimes occur while a police vehicle is driving under Code Three conditions, they haven’t happened to Lodi PD during a pursuit that Brucia can remember.
“You can’t help if you can’t get there, so we always do our best to make sure we arrive at our destination as quickly and safely as possible, whether we’re in pursuit or responding to a call,” says Brucia.