They are extremely dangerous, but at times a necessary evil when it comes to fighting crime. Police evade incidents, otherwise known as police pursuits, are on the rise in Saskatoon but are often called off for safety reasons.
In 2016, almost every other day responding officers with the Saskatoon Police Service have to make quick, critical decisions as to whether or not to pursue a vehicle.
“Safety is the paramount consideration as to whether or not we would either initiate, continue or even discontinue an evade,” Staff Sgt. AJ Chevli, with the Saskatoon Police Service’s economic crime unit, said.
“So safety of the public, safety of the police and safety of the suspect.”
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The seriousness of an offence where immediate apprehension of a person is required often dictates if a criminal is even worth pursuing in this way.
“Some of the most serious Criminal Code offences that we would engage police evade incidents would be the most heinous of crimes – murder, home invasions, serious assaults, robberies of financial institutions or homes.”
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Chevli said police evade incidents are also considered a last resort.
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“If we have a plate number or if the driver is known to us – we’re not going to be involved in that incident and put anybody at risk.”
In 2014, there were 61 evades and that number doubled to 120 in 2015. Chevli said there were approximately 180 incidents last year where suspects fled police.
Drugs and auto thefts appear to be driving these numbers up.
“There’s a strong correlation between stolen vehicles and evade incidents. In 2015, we had over 900 vehicles stolen and in 2016 we had just over 1,100 vehicles stolen and a good portion of those cars stolen are the ones that are involved in those incidents that we have to response to.”
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During an incident there are layers of responsibility – the responding officer who makes the initial decision, a responding supervising sergeant who then monitors the pursuit and the watch commander who has the final say.
If an officer fails to follow the commanders orders, including terminating the incident, the officer then has to answer to the evade committee post-incident.
“We review each and every evade incident and if there’s a training opportunity where we can coach the members to gear them back to our policy we will,” Chevli said.
In 2015, the police evade incident policy was reviewed and a new one drafted as it is every couple years – in order to stay current with best practices across the country.
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