State House passes bill easing restrictions on when police can pursue fleeing suspects

Gwen Baumgardner
Updated ·2 min read
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A controversial bill is one step closer to becoming law. Early Tuesday morning, House members passed Senate Bill 5352, which would ease restrictions on police pursuits.

Members of law enforcement are already praising the effort, including those in Snohomish County.

“We could talk all day as police officers, and people would say, ‘It’s just the police.’ But when you have mayors, councils, and communities coming together to say, ‘We need to make a change,’ that’s empowering,” said Lake Stevens Police Chief Jeffery Beazizo.

In a 57-39 vote, the House voted to pass SB 5352. The bill proposes rolling back some of the limitations on law enforcement pursuits. Currently, officers can only pursue suspects for violent or sexual crimes or suspected DUI. The new legislation would broaden that list.

The bill also comes with a new amendment from the House — changing the police burden from probable cause to reasonable suspicion.

“Probable cause, which is enough to charge somebody in court. I mean, it’s an incredibly high level of evidence,” says Steve Strachan with the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. “Reasonable suspicion simply means a reasonable person would suspect that a crime is likely being committed or is about to be committed.”

The Senate still needs to vote on that amendment before it heads to the governor’s desk. It’s likely Gov. Jay Inslee would sign.

“I think that some changes on adjusting that needle on where we set it with police pursuits, realizing there’s always some danger of pursuits, but there’s also a danger of further criminal conduct as well,” Inslee said last month.

Beazizo is calling the bill a small step forward.

“I’ve been in law enforcement for over 32 years, and I have never seen it like this. Just in the last two years, how legislation has changed and made it harder to do our job,” Beazizo said.

But there are others who believe the bill is a misstep. The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability posted to social media, “The law on vehicular pursuits has saved lives — fewer bystanders, officers, passengers, and drivers are losing their lives as a result of hot pursuits. We hope the legislature is very careful in their consideration of whether it should be changed. Because lives are at stake.”