Page 21 - June2020 FOP Magazine

away from the stop, the officer should make a decision as to whether or not he or she should go after and stop that vehicle. The balancing test the officer should be considering is if “[t]he necessity to immediately apprehend the fleeing suspect out- weighs the level of inherent danger created by a motor vehicle pursuit.” Maybe more simply said: Is the need to take the of- fender into custody worth the danger it poses?
When applying the balancing test, the officer must look to the speed and maneuvering required by the officer. The offi- cer should look to pedestrian and vehicular traffic and vol- ume. The officer should also look to the road conditions and weather at the time of the pursuit. The general order cautions that an officer should consider termination of the pursuit when the suspect’s identity has been determined or when property damage begins to occur during the pursuit. Officers should also obtain and assess all information being received from other units, including helicopter support. Essentially, the officer needs to first analyze the facts of the pursuit and mentally note the dangers involved, as well as explore other options to apprehend the suspect.
The general order spells it out, and you should read it and be able to explain and justify your actions. Now our friends at COPA have taken the rules that contemplate an officer taking the time to engage in the analysis and decreased this essential time period. The typical case at COPA involves an officer who observes an offender commit a traffic violation. The officer activates the lights and attempts to curb the vehicle. The of- fender plays the fake stop game and then takes off. The officer begins to follow. The officer now must go through the analy- sis: Is the need to immediately apprehend the fleeing suspect
outweighed by the inherent danger created by the pursuit? Before the officer even completes the analysis, the offender has gone through a red light and killed or severely injured an innocent civilian. When this happens, COPA will place no blame on the reckless offender and will have no sympathy for the officer who was simply doing his or her job. COPA will shrink that time period and require the officer to have made a split-second decision, even though it is close to impossible to process the initial reasoning of the stop, vehicular and pe- destrian traffic, weather conditions and a host of other factors the officer must look to. COPA will get your GPS speeds and locations, they will pull your body cameras, in-car cameras and every POD and third-party video available to establish that you unnecessarily escalated the interaction and, but for your decision, the offender would have safely made his way to 10 a.m. Mass. It is an unfair and incredible expectation, and simply a ridiculous reading of the pursuit general order.
If you find yourself in this situation, if there is a fatality and your boss wants you to complete a pursuit report, your first move is to contact the FOP. Make the call to the hall, no mat- ter the time of day. Get an FOP field representative to advise you and help you through the incident. Many times, a second look and a little direction will save you a host of problems in the future. You are stuck with that pursuit report. You cannot un-ring the bell once it is submitted. Look at any video that is available, and request and review the GPS on your squad. The best advice is to know the general orders, use your common sense and always remember that the first job of all police offi- cers is to finish your tour safely.
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2020 21
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