Establishing a Foot Pursuit Policy

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

Collecting statistics that accurately reveal the number of officers killed and injured during foot pursuits would raise officer awareness and encourage agencies to train their officers in effective and safe methods of chasing fleeing suspects. Law enforcement professionals should work together to compile, analyze, and publish such information on a national level and determine policies and procedures that would help officers enforce the law without unduly endangering themselves.

To this end, the Collingswood, New Jersey, Police Department developed and implemented a foot pursuit policy. While not an attempt to eliminate foot pursuits, the policy sets forth basic elements that officers should consider when faced with fleeing suspects. The policy has brought the hazards of foot pursuits to the surface and shown officers that they must temper their instinctive reaction of chasing fleeing suspects and consider the potentially life-threatening consequences of rashly running into danger.

Endnotes

(1.) Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 1997 (Washington, DC, 1998) 46.

(2.) Ibid, 57-58.

(3.) For a detailed examination of assaults on law enforcement officers, see Anthony J. Pinizzotto, Edward F. Davis, and Charles E. Miller III, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, In the Line of Fire: A Study of Selected Felonious Assaults on Law Enforcement Officers (Washington, DC, 1997).

(4.) For 2 years, Mr. Bohrer taught a course on the use of deadly force for FBI National Academy students. During this time, he asked over 250 officers from around the country if their departments had a policy on foot pursuits. While most of these officers agreed that such a policy could reduce injuries and possibly deaths to police personnel, to date, only Chief Garrity has said that his agency has a policy on foot chases.

(5.) For a general discussion of overcoming officer complacency, see Samuel G. Chapman, Cops, Killers and Staying Alive (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1986), 58-60.

(6.) Supra note 3.

(7.) These circumstances include responding to disturbance calls, making arrests, quelling civil disorders, handling prisoners, investigating suspicious persons or circumstances, confronting ambushes, dealing with individuals with mental illness, and pursuing or stopping traffic violators.

(8.) For additional information on foot pursuit tactics, see Gerald W. Garner, Surviving the Street: Officer Safety and Survival Techniques (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1998), 57-61; Donovan Jacobs, Street Cop: Innovative Tactics for Taking Back the Streets (Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1993) 47-58; Jason Harney, "Control 3 Mary 1, Foot Pursuit!!! Surviving and Having Success in a Foot Pursuit Comes Down to Defensive Tactics and Physical Fitness"; available from http://geocities.com/[sim]halbrown/foot_pursuit.html; accessed September 29, 1999; Foot Pursuit produced by the Los Angeles, California, Sheriff's Department, 16 min., Coronet/MTI, videocassette; and The Calibre Press Street Survival Newsline located on the Calibre Press Web site at http://www.calibrepress.com.