PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Lawmakers in Olympia are considering scaling back laws limiting when officers can engage in car chases — changes we could also see in Southwest Washington.
Currently, the strict laws in place limit when officers in Washington can engage in a pursuit of a suspect, but if it makes it into a law, one house bill in the works would scale back some of those restrictions, which one sheriff says is important for them to do their jobs.
“I was up on the hill last week in Olympia and they said they probably went too far and so they’re trying to adjust some of the criteria for chases right now in Washington,” said Clark County Sheriff John Horch.
The current police pursuit law requires probable cause to be established for crimes like a violent offense, sex offense or reasonable suspicion of DUI. The proposed pursuit update, currently going through the state House, would instead require reasonable suspicion of a violent offense, sex offense, DUI, vehicular assault, domestic violence assault, or an escape.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office says it’s a change that’s needed.
“People are wondering, what’s the purpose of law enforcement if you get behind someone in one of those felony situations and we turn the lights on and they run, and we can’t stop them, they’re wondering what the good of law enforcement is doing,” said Sheriff Horch.
One crime left out of House Bill 1363’s committee revision Thursday — property crime, including stolen vehicles. Both Democrats and Republicans explained why they do or don’t want changes to the current law.
“We all want our communities to be safer. In fact, we know police pursuits in themselves don’t actually make our communities safer and they’ve had impacts in my own community with bystanders,” said Rep. Mary Fosse, a Democrat from Everett.
“We have to have laws that everybody follows otherwise we get what we have right now and I have serious concerns that if we don’t do something to start supporting our police — we’re already last in the nation in 911,” said Rep. Jenny Graham, a Republican from the Spokane area.
With the session wrapping in April, Sheriff Horch says the clock is ticking.
“It’s going to take both parties up in Olympia to work together and right now, they currently are but I’ve learned something in politics, it comes down to voting day,” said Horch.
Horch tells KOIN 6 there are dozens of other bills moving through the state legislature regarding public safety and he’s keeping in constant communication with area lawmakers. Another bill he’d like to see passed would delegate some tax dollars solely toward hiring more law enforcement, which he says is needed as Washington State has one of the lowest ratios in the country of officers per 1,000 residents.
