The oversight board that sets policy for Los Angeles Police Department officers on Tuesday reviewed new data that shows the number of car chases has increased in recent years and more than 1,000 people have been injured in the series of collisions during persecutions since 2018.
“I think what we struggle with is where we draw the line,” Board of Police Commissioners Chairman William J. Briggs II said, asking what kinds of activities should be allowed or prohibited. in an attempt to reduce the danger to the police. and the public.
“Several third parties have been injured or killed, and the specter is being raised that prosecuting suspects may not be the best course of action,” he said.
A mother-of-three is in a coma after the vehicle she was traveling in was hit while police were chasing a man in South Los Angeles. Reports by Raymond Mesa.
Internal LAPD data tracking more than 4,000 lawsuits between 2018 and last month shows about a quarter ended in an injury crash, and of those injured, nearly half were innocent motorists or pedestrians.
Forty-four percent of lawsuits started because of a report or sighting of a stolen car.
“So that’s the moral dilemma for me. Is it like we really have to go after stolen vehicles if it’s going to lead to tragedy? asked commissioner Maria Lou Calanche.
“I know there are other jurisdictions that prohibit police chases for car theft,” Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields said.
Police Chief Michel Moore said he believes officers should continue to find stolen cars and arrest thieves, especially since so many people in Los Angeles depend on their cars for a living or move.
“The deterrence has to be … that there is also accountability,” he said. “Let there be consequences for those involved in this.”
A Northridge CSU student was killed in a two-vehicle accident during a police chase that ended in Northridge with a suspect on the run, authorities said Thursday.
“It’s one of the most dangerous activities we engage in,” Moore said of the activities, adding, “I’m heartened that auto theft is down 10% this year.”
Deputy Chief Don Graham helped sort through the chase data and told sister station NBC4’s I-Team that the number of chase injuries had started to decline.
“It’s in the range of about 30-40 per cent, where there’s an injury from a chase, and then it’s higher than anyone feels comfortable with.”
The driver of a car fleeing law enforcement collided with another vehicle, killing two people.
Graham said the most dangerous chases tended to be the shortest ones, those that ended in less than 5 minutes.
The commissioners have called for further research into the potential effects on stolen cars in a handful of cities that have banned lawsuits, the correlation between stolen cars and hit-and-runs, and whether new technologies could help avoid them altogether the need for certain prosecutions.
This story first appeared on Telemundo 52’s sister station NBCLA. Click on here to read this story in English.