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The Police Exam - Vehicle Pursuits

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Sergeant George Godoy

Sergeant George Godoy (ret) is a 22 year police veteran from the Denver, Colorado area. During the last 5 years of his law enforcement career he was a police recruiter and investigator responsible for the hiring of police officers. His responsibilities included screening police applicants, administering written tests, participating in oral board interviews, and completing police background investigations.

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More articles from this author:

• Your Written Exam: How To Think Like A Cop
• The Police Oral Board Secret Weapon
• Police Oral Board Interview - From Stress To Success

The information presented here is meant to be used as a rule of thumb guideline for vehicle pursuit questions on police entrance exams. Both the police written test and the oral board interview may include judgment questions regarding vehicle pursuits. Police agencies do not want to hire someone who disregards the safety of the public in order to stop a vehicle for a minor traffic violation.

Vehicle pursuits are always regulated by jurisdictional policies and applicable city, state, and federal laws. This article is intended to provide a common sense approach to vehicle pursuits based on a compilation of different police policies from several jurisdictions.

Decision To Initiate A Vehicle Pursuit

The officer intending to stop a vehicle will make every effort to avoid a vehicle pursuit. Activation of lights and siren are delayed whenever possible, until the officer is close enough that the opportunity to flee appears to be unavailable to the operator of the suspect vehicle.

If the operator of the suspect vehicle chooses to avoid being stopped and attempts to flee, the decision to initiate a vehicle pursuit lies with the individual officer.

Certain actions taken by the operator of the fleeing vehicle may escalate the danger to the public, the suspect operator, and the pursuing officer(s). In these cases, jurisdictional policy will prevail in determining whether a pursuit is continued or called off.

Any officer involved in a vehicle pursuit must drive with due regard for the safety of all persons concerned and any exemptions granted the officer, as an authorized operator of an emergency vehicle, do not include protection from the consequences of that officer driving with reckless disregard for the safety of others.

A vehicle pursuit study, covering 800 municipal and county agencies, indicated that two factors were likely to determine support for a vehicle pursuit:

1. The severity of the offense committed by the suspect

2. The risk to the public (traffic, road, and weather conditions)