Houston Police Chief Troy Finner has released a revised vehicle pursuit for police on Thursday.
On Sept. 7, the mother of a Houston Police Department sergeant was killed when two carjackers fleeing from police crashed into two vehicles at a red light in southwest Houston. The drivers of the two vehicles were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Click2Houston reports.
Finner said he called on lawmakers around the nation to increase penalties for people that are fleeing in vehicles, causing danger to the community. He also discussed the policy with lawmakers on the way officers should handle situations like this.
As required by department policy and state law, Finner said an officer may engage in a vehicle pursuit only if the officer determines in good faith, under the circumstances the need to immediately apprehend the suspect outweighs the risk of harm to the officer or the public in engaging in a pursuit.
“If the risk of injury outweighs the needs to immediately apprehend the suspect, officers and supervisors alike, shall terminate the pursuit,” he said.
“We need to be smarter, still proactive and intentional in fighting crime in our city, we should not pursue every vehicle that flees from us,” Finner said. “We don’t have to give up the search of the suspect when we terminate the pursuit -- that should continue.”
