Don’t revert to policy that endangers public

On New Year’s Eve in 2009, Shanica Adkins, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was traveling to her family’s home in Milwaukee. Adkins was a model student, on track to graduate the following May with a degree in social work. She had already been accepted into a master’s degree program, and she had an impressive record of serving in ROTC, conducting volunteer work as a tutor, and assisting with research into developmental disabilities such as autism and Down syndrome.

Adkins’ promising young life was cut short that day when an SUV ran a red light and slammed into the car in which Adkins was riding. She died at the scene, and her boyfriend, Donta Brown, suffered serious injuries, including neurological damage.

The SUV that killed Adkins was missing a front license plate. Police had tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver fled. Police cut short the chase, but moments later the fleeing driver caused the fatal crash.

The very next day, there was another crash in Milwaukee following a police pursuit, with two innocent bystanders killed. And two months after that, there was a third crash following a pursuit, and another bystander killed.

In response to these tragedies, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn promptly adopted new policies that provided more specific direction to Milwaukee officers about when pursuits are allowed. Under the new policies, officers may initiate pursuits only if there is probable cause to believe that the occupants of a vehicle are involved in a violent felony, that they present a clear and present danger, and that the risks associated with a pursuit are outweighed by the risks posed by the occupants of the vehicle.

Flynn’s policies are well within the mainstream of national best practices in the policing profession. The organization that I direct, the Police Executive Research Forum, conducted research into pursuit policies and released a model policy in 2000 that is similar to Milwaukee’s current policy. Like Milwaukee’s policy, our model policy allows pursuits only when an officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a fleeing suspect has committed or attempted to commit a violent felony, and it requires officers to consider the risks that a pursuit will pose to the community.

Such policies limiting police pursuits have become accepted wisdom in the policing profession, and are not considered controversial outside of Milwaukee. Many cities and towns across the nation, from Baltimore to San Francisco, from Philadelphia to San Jose, from Boston to Orlando, have adopted such policies.

It’s easy to see why so many police agencies have adopted and maintained clear, specific rules on pursuits: the risks of not having such a policy are extremely high, and the consequences could not be worse.

According to a 2015 study of federal statistics and other data by USA Today, at least 11,506 people were killed in police chases between 1979 and 2013, the most recent year for which federal records were available.

Slightly more than half of those 11,506 people were the drivers of the vehicles being pursued. But at least 2,456 were innocent bystanders — pedestrians or motorists in other vehicles. And many other fatalities were passengers in the vehicles being pursued. More than 130 police officers were killed during pursuits.

Milwaukee’s current policy on police pursuits is supported by research and many years of experience in the cities that have such policies. And it is supported by logic and common sense.

Drug dealers and other criminals may attempt to take advantage of strict pursuit policies and flee when they are stopped by police. But police can deal with that issue in other ways — for example, by getting a warrant and arresting the drug dealer the next day. It is not worth the risk to the public and to police officers to engage in these dangerous pursuits. We can arrest and prosecute criminals another day. We can never get back the lives of innocent persons such as Shanica Adkins.

Last year, nearly 200 police chiefs and other experts came together at a PERF conference to write a series of “30 Guiding Principles on Use of Force.” The very first principle states: “The sanctity of human life should be at the heart of everything a police agency does.” To fulfill this principle, police agencies must avoid policies that unnecessarily endanger the lives of their community members.

If Milwaukee loosens its pursuit policy, it will be taking a major step backward, going against what forward-thinking police departments have been implementing for years. Strict pursuit policies have saved lives, and it will cost lives if Milwaukee reverses itself.