By Linda Man, The Kansas City Star
The Metropolitan Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association announced Wednesday that it planned to hold discussions in January about police pursuits.
The area does not necessarily have too many chases, said Kansas City, Kan., Police Chief Ron Miller, president of the association. But with more than 56 law enforcement agencies in a seven-county area, Miller said, it is time to get agencies talking about pursuits.
Miller said a Nov. 5 collision in Leawood re-emphasized the need for dialogue. That pursuit ended when a vehicle carrying two Overland Park teenagers collided with a Grandview police cruiser at 119th Street and Nall Avenue.
Grandview Officers Brian Blessing and Douglas Blodgett were each charged this week with reckless driving.
Both remain on duty.
Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison, whose office filed the charges, said he hoped the case would spark dialogue among agencies about how and when to pursue fleeing suspects.
“If we could end up with a uniform policy, that would be wonderful,” Morrison said.
Miller said the decision to chase sometimes depended on the type of crime that was committed. But the issue of whether to chase gets more complex if it means going through a school zone where children are waiting for buses, Miller said.
“Those are issues,” Miller said. “When do you pursue and for what? Who makes the decision on whether we terminate?”
Chase policies can differ significantly among jurisdictions, Miller said.
In Lee’s Summit, for example, pursuits generally are limited to violent felonies. Independence, a neighboring jurisdiction, has a less restrictive policy, allowing officers to chase for traffic violations.
But some jurisdictions don’t even have chase policies, Miller said.
Morrison said he believed that pursuits should be limited to serious crimes and “even then, they should be regulated.”
Miller said the association would not adopt a model chase policy, but would present its research to the agencies and let them decide what was best for their communities.
He said he hoped the association would have its research complete in January.
The association includes agencies from Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte and Ray counties in Missouri.