By Lynzie Lowe
The Reporter, Vacaville, Calif.
VALLEJO, Calif. —The Vallejo Police Department recently released its first-ever vehicle pursuit analysis report, which contained a comprehensive analysis of the pursuit data that officials collected through its BlueTeam software after every vehicle pursuit in 2023.
“Police pursuits are a complex issue that requires a balance between the need to stop and apprehend criminals in Vallejo versus the risks they pose to officers, suspects, and the public,” read the executive summary of the analysis.
According to department officials, evaluating this data provides valuable insight into what the department is already doing well while shedding light on things they can do to improve operations moving forward.
The data collected reflected that in 2023 VPD conducted 197 vehicle pursuits.
“This is a record high and represents a 33 percent increase from 2022,” read the report. “Vehicle pursuits have shown a steady increase of 131 percent since 2018.”
Officials said this spike can be attributed to several factors including, most notably, the installation of Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) camera technology in Vallejo as well as the proliferation of large sideshow street activities.
VPD officials said 21 percent of all vehicle pursuits reported, or 41 incidents, last year ended with a collision. Of those, 27 ended with property damage only, 13 ended with an injury and only ended with a fatality.
“Overwhelmingly, 34 of the 41 vehicle accidents reflected speed as the primary collision factor, with unsafe turning as the second most noted primary factor in 4 of the collisions,” read the report.
Officials reported that of the 41 vehicle pursuits resulting in an accident, 24 initially appeared to be a felony offense while 11 appeared to be misdemeanor crimes and 6 appeared to be vehicle code infractions. Thirty-six of the original 41 accidents that followed a vehicle pursuit in 2023 resulted in a felony arrest, according to officials.
Officials also noted that of the 41 vehicle pursuits that resulted in a vehicle collision, 36 of those incidents occurred during clear weather conditions while four were during cloudy weather conditions and only one pursuit happened during rainy or wet weather conditions.
According to the data, the top two reasons VPD officials initiated a vehicle pursuit during 2023 were for stolen vehicles, which accounted for 37 percent of pursuits, and for reckless driving, which accounted for 34 percent of pursuits.
The analysis also found that 66 percent of the vehicle pursuits that occurred in 2023 took place between the hours of 5 p.m. and 6 a.m. and the most common days for a pursuit to occur were on weekends.
“Vehicle pursuits were called off 49 percent of the time in 2023,” read the report. “Those instances are when officers abort the pursuit for public safety reasons or when officers lost sight of the suspect and stopped pursuing.”
Of the 97 pursuits that were called off in 2023, officials said 38 were terminated for public safety concerns and 59 were called off after officers lost sight of the suspect.
According to officials, the analysis has identified several high risk factors when weighing the benefits of continuing a pursuit, including pursuing on Saturdays and Sundays; tenure of an officer; speeding and erratic driving; if the pursuit is happening between the hours of 5 p.m. and 6 a.m. ; and pursuits involving felony suspects.
“Supervisors (and) managers should strongly reflect on these factors when deciding to cancel a pursuit to mitigate the number of collisions in 2024,” read the report.
VPD officials said moving forward they plan to focus efforts on reducing collisions caused by pursuits using an evidence-based and data-driven approach and, based on the data obtained in this report, they have officially launched the 2023 Pursuit Collision Reduction Initiative.
“Collectively, as a team, we are seeking to reduce vehicle pursuit-related collisions by 20 percent in 2024,” said officials. “This is an ambitious but achievable goal.”
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