By james art 
Souty Burlington, VT. (Wcax) – When a suspect is running away from police, employees remain a decision to make: to pursue or stand up. Referring to the latest deadly incidents, some Vermont police departments are rethinking their pursuit policies.
“Every such incident is very dynamic and is changing very quickly,” said the police chief in Kolchester Peter Hull.
This is a split solution when employees face potentially pursuing-engage or not.
In May, police in Kolchester pursued suspects accused of holding employees of a car rental company in Burlington.
After the pursuit went to Colchester, he graduated from East Lakeshor Drive in a crash that died two people and left three other injured.
“The operators who run, make a choice, unfortunately … Sometimes the results are very tragic,” Hull said.
In an incident in Rutland, police chased a suspect in robbery. When the driver crossed the center line and crashed with a cruiser, killing the 19-year-old OFC. Jessica Ebbajuus.
“The persecution of vehicles in my assessment is one of the most dangerous things that the police department does regarding the exposure to the greater audience,” said South Burlington police chief Sean Burke.
Referring to these cases, Burke-which serves in the consultation board for the law enforcement of Vermont- wants to create a model policy aimed at dealing with four key categories:
- When to initiate pursuit
- How to control it while it happens
- When to call it
- How to review and learn from the incident
“We need to pursue only people who participate in serious violence, which poses an immediate risk to someone else,” Burke said.
The Vermont League of cities and cities has a policy that departments can choose to accept in whole or use in part when creating their own. Consensus- public safety should remain in front and center when considering a model of the model that all departments are used.
“If we just let this person pass what the risk is and if we continue to pursue them what the risk is and what is greater,” Hull said.
The Council hopes to have a published policy using the best national practices and insight from local agencies sometime this year.
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