Police revise high-speed chase policy
Department draws on other cities' procedures in wake of August pursuit that left bystander dead
Lawrence Police have “tweaked” their high-speed pursuit policy after a chase this summer that ended in the death of an innocent bystander.
Officials said the revised policy unveiled Tuesday by Chief Ron Olin gives officers broader latitude to end chases they determine are unsafe — but also gives officers more authority to continue those chases in the face of “clear and immediate danger.”
The central change: Officers now have the authority to end a pursuit if the dangers “outweigh” the benefit of continuing the chase. Previously, the policy said officers could stop chases if traffic hazards “clearly override” the benefit.
City Manager Mike Wildgen was hard-pressed to define the difference between “outweigh” and “clearly override” Tuesday night, saying only that the new policy provides officers more flexibility.
“Staff felt there needed to be a less stringent standard in order for an officer to terminate a pursuit,” Wildgen said in a memorandum to the commission.
Olin’s surprise appearance before the Lawrence City Commission — no advance notice had been given to the public — came more than three months after the death of Judith Vellucci, 56, during a Lawrence Police chase of an erratic driver.
According to police, Nam Ouk Cho, 19, Lee’s Summit, Mo., was spotted driving recklessly Aug. 26 on Massachusetts Street near downtown and pursued by police to the city’s southwest side. The chase ended at 31st Street and Nieder Road when Cho’s car struck Vellucci’s car, killing the Lawrence woman.
Cho has been charged with second-degree murder and is being detained in the Douglas County Jail.
‘Small tweaks’
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Police pursuit policy memorandumAfter the crash, Olin said his officers followed the department’s pursuit policy, which then required officers to stop giving chase “if the safety conditions clearly override the necessity of the pursuit.” Wildgen — saying he had received a number of messages from the public asking him to “rein in” police — said at the time he agreed with Olin’s assessment but would review the policy.
Tuesday, Olin said the revisions had been studied and proposed by a standing task force within the department, along with representatives from the City Manager’s Office and city legal staff.
Pursuit policies of 14 cities — all other Big 12 Conference cities, as well as Topeka, Lenexa and Kansas City, Mo. — were examined during the revision process, Olin said.
“We generally found it to be fine,” Olin said of Lawrence’s original policy. “But there were some small areas we decided to tweak.”
In addition to the change from “clearly override” to “outweigh,” two other revisions were made:
- A new section was added that gives officers greater authority to continue dangerous pursuits if the fleeing suspect “presents a clear and immediate threat to the safety of others.”
In the memorandum, Wildgen said “nearly all” the other cities had similar provisions in their policies.
- Another new section describes the circumstances under which “spike strips” can be used to stop a fleeing vehicle. Such devices puncture the tires of the fleeing vehicle. Police attempted to use spike strips to stop Cho’s car, but he successfully avoided them.
Wildgen said the new policy would be included in the city’s officer training manuals.
“The training documents are key to the implementation in the field,” Wildgen said.
Little comment
Wildgen said the new policy was an “internal” document that does not require City Commission approval. The new policy is now in force.
And he said the public was not given prior notice of Tuesday’s unveiling because work on the policy was completed only Monday.
“There’s lots of internal policies that we never bring to the commission, but we knew there was extra interest in this,” Wildgen said.
Commissioners asked two short questions of Olin.
- Commissioner Mike Rundle asked for an example of how the new “clear and immediate threat” provision might be used. Olin said it would give officers broader latitude to chase, for example, a fleeing kidnapper.
- Commissioner Boog Highberger asked if any law enforcement agency did not have a pursuit policy. Olin said one area sheriff’s department — he declined to identify the department — did not.
Commissioners made no other comment during the meeting.
“I’m satisfied. I think they did a good job reviewing,” Mayor David Dunfield said afterward. “There’s always going to be a large element of judgment of the circumstances.”
The Journal-World has filed suit against the city of Lawrence and Douglas County for withholding dispatch recordings from the pursuit. The newspaper contends the state’s open records law says such recordings should be public, and it has asked District Judge Paula Martin to settle the matter. The deadline is today for Douglas County to respond to the lawsuit in Douglas County District Court. The city responded to the suit earlier, saying the public had no right to hear such police dispatch tapes.
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