Albany Times Union Letter

A letter to the editor I wrote was published in the Albany Times Union Saturday. You can follow the link HERE. Below is as it appeared:

The Albany Police Department must modernize its vehicle pursuit policy. Recently, the department apparently "strengthened" the policy by requiring officers to be vocal over the radio during pursuits in regard to the crimes committed and the situation unfolding. This change was in response to two recent vehicle pursuits that led to an innocent bystander being killed killed and another injured.

Unfortunately, officers can still pursue any violator, no matter how insignificant the violation might be. This is the wrong approach to safe police work.

Many police officers forget that their job is not to arrest people but to keep their community safe. A safer policy would allow police to pursue violators who have committed serious crimes.

No matter the training or the experience, police are not in control of the situation during a pursuit and at least 400 Americans are killed a year as a result. Just because the violator gets out of sight of the pursuing officer does not mean the bad guy got away. Technological advances such as helicopters, video cameras and computers ensure that a strict policy does not hinder law enforcement's ability to do its job.

To prevent the death of more innocent victims and law enforcement officers, Albany must adopt a policy that only pursues vehicles when it is absolutely necessary. Make the change before it is too late.

Letter to the Topeka Capital-Journal

I wrote the following letter to the editor for the Topeka Capital-Journal in response to the article linked HERE.

I am writing in response to the Oct. 14 article (Police chases driven by rules) regarding the pursuit policy of the Topeka Police Department. Police Chief Miller says that his department will chase and apprehend those who flee, but at the same time try to do this as safely as possible. Chief Miller must understand that in order to do this, pursuits must only be justified in cases of violent crimes, not simple traffic violations or other minor crimes. The risk to the public and officers involved do not justify the need to chase these violators. After all, technological advances such as the helicopters mentioned in the article, provide law enforcement other options that insures the public that just because the fleeing vehicle runs out of the sight of the officer in chase does not mean the suspect got away.

A departments policy should be strictly defined in order to prevent knee jerk reactions by officers, although perhaps properly trained, make mistakes.

Police Capt. Ron Brown asked, "if we do terminate the pursuit, are we allowing the person driving his car at 80 to 90 mph to continue, putting the public at greater risk?" I would ask Capt. Brown the following question: Which has a greater chance to end in tragedy: One car driving recklessly at 90 mph, or that same dangerous driver followed by 5 police cars driving just as recklessly? You can do the math.

After all, the job of a police officer is not to arrest people, but protect its citizens. Unfortunately this is often forgotten, and innocent lives such as my sister Sarah's, are lost.