Establishing a Foot Pursuit Policy

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, May, 2000 by Shannon Bohrer, Edward F. Davis, Thomas J. Garrity, Jr.

Running in to Danger

Both of these officers died while pursuing suspects on foot. Many more have sustained serious injuries while chasing fleeing violators. [3] While vehicle pursuits have garnered much media attention and caused many law enforcement agencies to rethink their pursuit policies, foot chases and the resultant injuries and deaths to officers appear to have received little consideration.

In fact, today's law enforcement officers have manuals and polices and procedures that cover virtually everything--wearing uniforms, testifying in court, parking police cruisers, qualifying with firearms, supervising employees, and even pursuing suspects in vehicles. However, when it comes to foot chases, officers seem to lack not only policies and procedures but also training. [4] Why?

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

First and foremost, pursuing fleeing suspects constitutes a basic function of law enforcement officers. Because officers do this activity every day, they often become complacent about the dangers inherent in chasing suspects on foot and develop a false sense of security. [5] For example, officers make arrests, break up fights, and chase and catch suspects on a daily basis and rarely get hurt. This can blur their vision to the threats that actually can occur in their everyday work.

Moreover, FBI research has shown that a significant number of officers assaulted during foot pursuits had no plan of action other than arresting the suspect. [6] The research also revealed that officers giving chase often do not recognize that suspects can turn threatening or that suspects could lead them into prearranged traps. None of the officers in the study had received any training or guidance from their departments about when to chase a suspect on foot or what action to take during the chase or after catching the suspect.

Additionally, few statistics exist on the number of officers killed or injured while pursuing suspects on foot. For example, the FBI's annual Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted publication presents numerous Statistics--such as type of weapon, time of day, type of assignment, and circumstances at the scene of the incident- [7] relative to line-of-duty officer deaths and assaults. However, the publication contains no statistics on the number of officers killed or injured in foot pursuits. Because the FBI does not compile this information, readers must examine the individual summaries of officers killed to determine how many officers died during foot pursuits. For example, in the two incidents at the beginning of this article, one of the officers died after responding to a disturbance call and the other after making a traffic stop, but both also were involved in foot pursuits that ultimately resulted in their deaths. Law enforcement agencies and researchers would benefit from knowing not only the circumstances or calls for service during which officers lost their lives or sustained injuries but also if these violations led to foot chases that subsequently resulted in these deaths or injuries.

Finally, both officer complacency and the lack of accurate statistics on the number of officers killed or injured in foot chases reveal the need for law enforcement agencies to consider developing and implementing foot pursuit policies and procedures. While officers may instinctively pursue and attempt to overtake fleeing suspects, they need to realize that specific guidelines and procedures may not only improve their success rate but also save their lives. [8]

ONE DEPARTMENT'S EXPERIENCE

The Collingswood, New Jersey, Police Department developed a foot pursuit policy as a result of an annual safety committee review in 1997. While examining the types of injuries sustained by its officers, the department discovered that several had occurred during foot pursuits. This prompted the department to look at previous years' injuries, which revealed similar patterns. About the same time, investigators learned that area drug dealers had booby-trapped many vacant residences in the city so they could lure officers into these specific buildings and not only evade capture but also injure officers. For example, suspects had cut holes in the floors or placed wires or ropes in various locations throughout the buildings to cause officers to trip and fall onto broken glass, nails, or other injury-producing items. The department began to realize that it needed to find alternatives to "running down the suspect."

Developing the Policy

The Collingswood Police Department wanted to develop a foot pursuit policy that would secure a balance between protecting the lives of its officers and the public and upholding its duty to enforce the law and apprehend violators. To this end, the department based its policy on the many factors that officers must consider when they initiate foot pursuits. These include the nature of the offense or call for service, the location and surrounding area involved, the type and availability of communication, the presence of physical danger, the physical condition and abilities of the officers involved, and the safety of the officers and the general public. Because unique situations arise in law enforcement, the policy could not address all possible circumstances. Therefore, the department intended that the policy would guide its officers' decisions about initiating, continuing, or ending foot pursuits.