I-Team

Chasing Down Police Policies

Most departments have established guidelines regulating high-speed pursuits

MIAMI (CBS4) ― A high speed police chase of a suspect wanted for questioning in a strong armed robbery in Hialeah on September 11, 2008, is now raising questions about when and how police officers should chase fleeing suspects wanted in crimes.

The questions surfaced after the high speed chase ended with the arrest of Robert Boyd. Boyd was taken into custody after a chase through the streets of Miami-Dade and Hialeah. During the chase, Boyd was observed by the CBS Chopper4 crew jumping from his moving car then running on foot. After police surrounded Boyd, they used a taser to subdue him even as he stood with his hands raised up into the air.

Friday morning Boyd made his first appearance in a Miami-Dade courtroom on charges of fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest without violence, driving with a suspended license and aggravated assault on a police officer.

However, Boyd turned out not to be the suspect in the Hialeah strong armed robbery.

During his run from police the car Boyd was driving was observed by CBS Chopper4 and cameraman Tony Jerez driving on the wrong side of the road, nearly colliding with a school bus and putting many innocent bystanders in dander.

However, some experts and observers say the chase would have ended, and the risk to the public ended had the police ended the chase.

CBS4 I-Team investigator Stephen Stock dug into various police chase policies to find out what makes them different.

CBS4 also talked to an expert about a brand new United States Supreme Court ruling on police chases that might result in more chases, not fewer.

According to national highway statistics high speed police chases kill more than 300 people a year nationwide. Most of those who die are innocent bystanders who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Take the case of college student Sarah Phillips that happened in Orange County, near Orlando. Phillips, a student at UCF and an innocent bystander, died in a collision with a suspect's vehicle during a high speed chase caught on police videotape.

Now, because of that case, Orlando City Police Department has one of the most restrictive police chase policies in the country.

The former police chief, Michael McCoy sums up the policy this way: "I'll basically boil it down to you as saying if you can't shoot 'em, don't chase 'em," McCoy says.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who also once served as director of Miami-Dade's metro police department, says chase policies must strike a balance. Alvarez believes the policies should not be as restrictive as Orlando's.

"We've come a long way (in the years since he was police director starting in the 1970's.) Maybe the policy can be tweaked a little bit here and there. But either extremes (in thrusts of chase policies) are bad," Alvarez said.

In fact, Miami-Dade has a 27-page policy governing high speed pursuits...bottom line officers may chase only when they believe a suspect is involved in a felony with the "threat" or "use of physical force or violence."

Florida's Highway Patrol poilcy seeks to "strictly regulate" chases...allowing them only when a suspect is "thought to be violent" or "poses a danger to the public at large."

Broward County is a bit less restrictive ...allowing chases under supervisor's direction of suspects "believed" to have "committed or attempted to commit a violent felony."

Fort Lauderdale's policy is even less restrictive...allowing an officer to chase in cases of a "forcible felony" or to "prevent death or serious injury to any person." To see the policies in their entirety click on the links that accompanies this article.

FIU law professor Joelle Anne Moreno says a United States Supreme Court decision handed down in 2006 clears the way for even more police chases.

That Supreme Court ruling, handed down by a vote of 8 to 1 and titled Scott v Harris, essentially says that police officers are within their right to chase suspects even in questionable circumstances.

"The emphasis on the part of the court was on the fact that the suspect had initiated the risky behavior by fleeing," Professor Moreno said. "And also on the fact that what the police were engaged in at that moment was an attempt to terminate and prohibit any further risk to themselves or to the general public."

Whether that means more scenes like the one witnessed over Hialeah remains to be seen.

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