Limiting police pursuits was supposed to make WA safer. It hasn’t happened in Lakewood | Opinion

Jason Whalen
·5 min read
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Public policy needs to be supported by clear, accurate and relevant data. Unfortunately, a recent audit report on police pursuits issued by the Pierce County Performance Audit Committee failed to review all the data provided by the Lakewood Police Department. This resulted in inaccurate findings.

The Pierce County report has since been updated to reflect the true numbers, but the damage is done. The incomplete Pierce County report was cited widely, including by two of our local state legislators to support a position that more time is needed before changes are made to the current pursuit law.

In Lakewood, we support a commonsense approach to policies that protect lives and property and do not erode trust in government. We support bipartisan leadership to pass legislation that stops increased criminal activity. We are not alone. Before the Legislature convened in January, I joined 14 Pierce County mayors in co-signing a letter from Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett that called for changes to a number of public safety laws.

Specific to the well-publicized police pursuit law passed by the Legislature in 2021 — currently being reevaluated by legislators in Olympia — we support changes that allow law enforcement to pursue someone if there is reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. And we support a requirement for ongoing emergency vehicle operations training, which benefits our officers and the public.

We agree with state Rep. Sharlett Mena and Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, who in a February Op-Ed in The News Tribune wrote: “We should prioritize people’s safety, make data-informed decisions, and when possible, offer safe alternatives.”

But Lakewood police data from 2018 to 2022 — the data that was not included in the Pierce County report cited by the legislators in the TNT — does not show we are safer because of changes to pursuit laws. It shows the opposite.

The Lakewood Police Department is one of the few agencies in the state that started tracking data around the pursuit law. We tracked data 18 months before it took effect and in the 18 months that followed.

Here’s what the complete Lakewood police data shows:

  • Before the legislation restricting pursuits (HB 1054) took effect, Lakewood police saw an average of three vehicle pursuits per month. In the 18 months since, that number is now an average of two pursuits a month. A negligible decline.

  • However, Lakewood has experienced a 700% increase in the number of instances of people eluding — or fleeing — officers. That means they take off, typically at high speeds, putting our community and themselves in danger. Our officers can’t follow except in limited circumstances.

  • Vehicle thefts doubled. Notably, the number of collisions that occurred during stolen vehicle recoveries quadrupled since the law took effect.

Officers attribute the increase in people fleeing to public knowledge that they can’t pursue. It is difficult, if not impossible, for our officers to arrest a person who flees at a high rate of speed after the fact in a follow-up investigation. Officers have to be able to provide specific, identifiable information about who was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident. Contacting the registered or legal owner of the vehicle is not sufficient or practical in many cases.

Just this month our officers watched a burglary suspect drive by with an ATM hitched to the back of their truck by a chain. They tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver sped off, dislodging the ATM in the process. Because the crime did not meet the current specifications in the law, our officers could not follow.

Does this sound like a safer community? Not to us.

Reasonable suspicion standard

Proposed legislation, SB 5352, before state legislators is a good step, but it is still too restrictive.

Local jurisdictions should be able to determine their public safety policies. A blanket approach outlined in the Revised Code of Washington as determined by our state legislators is not the answer.

We need to see SB 5352 return to its original form, which would restore the reasonable suspicion standard for vehicular pursuits while maintaining strict guidelines for officers engaging in a pursuit.

A lot of back-and-forth has occurred. Data has been manipulated to support different positions. We can only go off what we experience in our community. Our data shows Lakewood is not safer today because of the legislation that limits pursuits.

Before current law took effect, our officers self-terminated 33% of all pursuits. Our department policies already restrict when and how officers can pursue a suspect. We maintain a good balance between arresting criminals and keeping our community safe. We do this through good training, good policy and good supervision. While Pierce County analysts chose to include data on a fatality that occurred after a pursuit was terminated by law enforcement in the audit, Lakewood has not had a fatality directly related to a police pursuit in more than 10 years, if not longer.

Adding offenses where a pursuit may be possible does not mean every instance of that crime will result in a pursuit. As introduced, SB 5352 includes a strong balancing test to make sure agency policies have public interest at their core. Our police are committed to ensuring pursuits are rare and only used when necessary.

We need that flexibility. We need to bring justice to victims. We need to hold criminals accountable, to change their behavior. Right now, criminals know they can flee without consequence. Our community deserves better.

We are not proposing “rollbacks” or “reversals” of the law. Rather, we need refinements and modifications to create a law with better balance. Our law enforcement officers need to be able to do their jobs. The public deserves to be safe. Good public policy demands nothing less.

We expect bipartisan support for necessary changes to state law.

Mayor Jason Whalen was first elected to the Lakewood City Council in 2010. His council peers voted him to serve as Mayor for the two-year term that commenced Jan. 1, 2022.