Cases of drivers fleeing officers on the rise

High-risk chases kept to a minimum using alternate tactics, chief says

The number of drivers fleeing police rose significantly last year from 2014, partly because of an increase in the theft of vehicles, Edmonton’s police chief says.

“These are high-risk situations, not only for police officers, but the public,” Chief Rod Knecht said Thursday.

“Ten years ago, we used to chase all the time. Now, we look at what’s the risk to the public.

“So if the public is going to be in danger, we’ll slow down, we’ll back off. That’s not to say we don’t chase.”

There were 461 criminal flights in 2015, a 73-per-cent jump from 2014. Of those, 211 resulted in chases.

Knecht estimated as many as 50 per cent of those who flee are driving stolen vehicles.

A criminal flight response happens when an officer follows a vehicle evading police and the subject is aware they’re being followed.

For a police officer to engage in a pursuit, the officer must have reasonable grounds that the driver has or is about to commit a criminal offence, there are no other alternatives to capturing them and the need to apprehend the driver outweighs the risks of the pursuit.

Police do not pursue people for traffic offences.

“We also get people who just like to run from the police for whatever reason — they’re impaired or any one of a number of things — and as soon as they see the red lights, they go,” Knecht said.

While police pursued fewer than half as many vehicles last year as they did in 2014, they arrested more people. Suspects were arrested in 252 cases.

Of the 211 pursuits last year, about half lasted a minute or less.

The majority of those were called off for safety reasons or because a police helicopter took over. Twenty-three of those police responses resulted in collisions in which a total of five suspects were injured.

Knecht said police are pursuing fewer vehicles because their policy has “tightened up.” Police are using other tactics, such as GPS tracking, deploying the Air-1 helicopter or identifying drivers and vehicles through intelligence gathering to later make an arrest.

“We’re asking our people to be more vigilant when they chase. … It’s not just, ‘Hey, there goes a car, let’s chase it. Why are we chasing it? Is it a means to an end or are there better ways to do it?’ ” Knecht said.

Edmonton police made changes to their criminal flight response policy following a review of a chase in 2009 in which a woman was killed.

In a public fatality inquiry in 2014, a provincial court judge determined police made two policy breaches in the pursuit.

Police said the increase in total reports of criminal flights and the decrease in police response is in part because of improved reporting and better member education on policy and procedure.