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HPD announced changes to chase policy
Houston police Chief Troy Finner announced changes to the department's vehicle pursuit policy. This comes after several high-speed police chases have resulted in the deaths or injury of nearly 180 people. FOX 26's Natalie Hee is at HPD headquarters to break down the new policy.
HOUSTON - The Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner has announced changes to its pursuit policies on Thursday.
This comes after several high-speed police changes have resulted in the deaths or injuries of nearly 180 people in 2023. The last time HPD revised its policy was five years ago in 2018.
The changes came one week after Sgt. Ricky Collins' mother, Gloria Collins, was killed during a chase near MLK and Van Fleet in Southeast Houston.
According to Chief Troy Finner, the policy change is to minimize the risk of injuries to officers and the public. An officer may engage in a vehicle pursuit only if the officer determines it’s in good faith, under the circumstances, to immediately apprehend the suspect outweighs the risk of alarm to officers and the public.
PREVIOUS STORY: Changes expected this week to Houston police policy on car chases
Finner says, there have been more than 1,300 pursuits year to date and it's a rough 26 percent increase from last year. HPD averages around five pursuits a day averaging lasting six minutes. "In my opinion, that’s too many," he says.
HPD says four people have died and 172 others have been injured as a result of high-speed police chases. Those 172 injured people include 18 officers, 97 suspects, 55 citizens in vehicles, one pedestrian and five others.
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With this new policy, Finner says if the risk of injury outweighs the need to apprehend the suspect, officers and supervisors should terminate the pursuit.
"We need to be smarter. Still proactive and intentional in fighting crime in our city. We should not pursue every vehicle that flees from us. We do not have to give up the search for the suspect when we terminate the pursuit," Finner stated.
RELATED: Houston police: Mother of HPD sergeant killed, others hurt in crash with suspects in stolen car
The most significant change in the policy is pursuits are now prohibited if the suspect's only possible offense is a Class C Misdemeanor, also a traffic or misdemeanor warrant or nonviolent misdemeanor warrant. However, a pursuit of a suspect's car can be authorized by a supervisor if there is an ongoing investigation.
In addition, if the vehicle has stolen plates, no plates, or plates belonging to another car, officers can get authorization from a supervisor to pursue the car.
According to Finner, this is due to criminals being known to steal cars to commit violent crimes.
"Just want to be clear to everybody, especially to the suspects, as we move through this policy nobody's giving up our right to police, You got the wrong chief, the wrong leaders, and the wrong police department," Finner said. "It's just us being smarter."
But some victims' families are skeptical of the changes.
"I don't think it will make a difference. I think they're just doing something just because of what's going on. Since this accident has happened, there's been quite a few high-speed chases," said Alyssha Thompson.
Thompson’s 14-year-old daughter Khamani was delivering for Door Dash with her 16-year-old friend in August when a suspect fleeing from Humble and Houston Police ran a red light and crashed into the innocent teens at Ella and Rankin Road.
Since the accident, Khamani has not been able to walk, and her friend may have sustained possible brain damage.
"As you can see, this is 24-hour care. My daughter's in diapers. At first, she was a fully functioning 14-year-old girl. These are kids, like this is a 14 and a 16-year-old, who now haven't went to school this year. He's still in the hospital and they (HPD) haven't even called us," Thompson said.
Thompson said she would like to see increased transparency and communication between HPD and victims' families.
Finner says the revised pursuit policy is effective immediately.
To read more on the new policy, click here.