(Beaver Dam) More and more communities are instituting no pursuit policies where law enforcement is restricted on who and when they can pursue. That is not the case with the Beaver Dam Police Department. The department gives officers discretion on whether they can safely pursue a suspect. Lieutenant Jeremiah Johnson says it is discussed frequently.
“We try to be smart about it,” says Johnson. “We know that if the crime doesn’t fit the chase, we’re not going to chase, you know. Property crimes tend to be something we shy away from.”
Johnson says that just because a suspect ran away does not mean law enforcement cannot catch them in other ways. He adds that there are people out there who drive recklessly on purpose to get law enforcement to stop chasing them.
“Now it becomes the chicken and the egg because are we encouraging people to run from us because they know we’ll stop chasing if they run.”
