St. Lucie County's "liberal" policy runs fast and loose with public safety.
www.pressjournal.com

November 9, 2003

They make for good, sensational video, high TV ratings and Christmas stocking stuffers. But high-speed police chases also make for ruined lives — of innocent bystanders, lawmen and their families — and an unnecessary expense to society.

It's a lesson Indian River County learned in 1994, when a sheriff's deputy saw a teenager throw out a car window what looked like piece of crack cocaine. Minutes later, the deputy was chasing the suspect down U.S. 1 at about 100 mph, when the teen's car crashed into a vehicle at 26th Street, killing the driver and three youngsters.

It was an unnecessary pursuit, Sheriff Gary Wheeler admitted later. So unnecessary, in fact, that Wheeler led an effort to have the Florida Sheriff 's Association pass a model policy that severely limits high-speed pursuits.

It's similar to a resolution issued in the late 1990s by the International Association of Chiefs of Police: "The decision to initiate pursuit must be based on the pursuing officer's conclusion that the immediate danger to the officer and the public created by the pursuit is less than the danger to the public should the suspect remain at large."

While the Indian River County Sheriff's Office has strict limits on when it can engage in hot pursuit — such as when it's chasing violent criminals — St. Lucie County has an admitted "liberal" policy reminiscent of what Starsky and Hutch might have followed in the 1970s: Gun it.

It's one of the most vague of the hundreds of policies reviewed by Jim Phillips, an Orlando man who has become an expert at pursuits since his 20-year-old daughter, Sarah, died when her car was struck by a fleeing vehicle in 2001.

One problem for Phillips is St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara's policy doesn't identify what suspects are worth pursuing, leaving too much to a deputy's interpretation.

On Oct. 10, a St. Lucie deputy began chasing a man supposedly wanted for first-degree murder, which would be considered a suspect worthy of a chase by both agencies. Later, though, officials learned the suspect, who was wanted for minor offenses and later was accidentally shot fatally by the deputy, had put a license plate belonging to another man on the car he was driving.

It was at least the second hot pursuit by St. Lucie deputies into Indian River in recent months — Indian River deputies stopped another suspect by having him run over spiked plates near the Vero Mall on U.S. 1 — and helps to point out the conflict in policies.

Another stark difference was highlighted on Oct. 19, when a St. Lucie deputy engaged in a high-speed pursuit down Interstate 95 when a suspect refused to stop for a minor traffic infraction: failing to properly signal a left turn.

The suspect, who nearly hit several cars and fled at up to 115 mph, was finally apprehended after his car ran over spiked plates deployed in Martin County.

In 2002, St. Lucie County reported 33 chases, making 32 arrests from those pursuits. Indian River had one pursuit. Of the 33 cases, 10 led to crashes, and one civilian passenger was injured.

National statistics indicate 300 to 400 people die annually in police chases, with one in four pursuits ending in injuries. About 40 percent of the chases end in crashes, according to a late 1990s survey done at the University of South Carolina.

"Any time you become involved in a high-speed chase, you're risking the lives of other motorists on the road," said Indian River County Sheriff Roy Raymond. "It's a big responsibility entering into something like that."

Our major problem is that Mascara claims his agency's chase policy "supersedes" Indian River's in this county. That's scary.

Given the responsible nature of Raymond's chase policy — and the discipline he and Wheeler have meted out for deputies who violate the guidelines — Raymond should demand that Mascara change his policy or keep his deputies south of the county line.

"It is better to allow a criminal to temporarily escape apprehension than to jeopardize the safety of citizens and the officer in a high-speed pursuit," states a prudent policy in Baltimore.

Recording license plates, using stop sticks, engaging helicopters to follow suspects and obtaining felony warrants for fleeing motorists are just a few ways otherwise-nonviolent offenders — but those who would flee for some other reason (mental instability, narcotics use) — will be apprehended.

As for Mascara, he can face a re-election campaign in 2004 with the monkey of a "liberal" high-speed pursuit policy on his back. Or, he can display progressive leadership and set a policy that makes hot pursuit the exception, not the rule.

• ON THE WEB: Phillips has created a Web site with information about high-speed chases. It can be found at (pursuitwatch.org).