Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Authors, law enforcement and sheriffs push different approaches to address rising vehicle fleeing; mobile-tracker exemption debated
Summary
Three Senate proposals to address a rise in fleeing-from-police incidents were presented to the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12. Proposals differ on punishment tiers, whether low-level fleeing should remain a felony or become a gross misdemeanor, and whether to add a targeted exemption allowing mobile tracking devices on actively fleeing vehicles.
Three competing Senate bills aimed at reducing dangerous instances of fleeing from peace officers in motor vehicles were the focus of an informational hearing on Feb. 12 before the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. Authors, prosecutors, chiefs and sheriffs testified about a rise in pursuits and proposed statutory changes to add intermediate felony tiers and to allow narrow use of mobile tracking devices to reduce high-speed chases.
Senator Amy Gustafson (author of one proposal) opened with statistics and a framework for higher penalties keyed to increasing danger. "In 2023, there were 2,262 agency-initiated pursuits," Gustafson said, and she cited a large increase in auto thefts, telling the committee the bill would add two felony tiers for fleeing that raise maximum imprisonment by one year at each higher tier and would add a statutory exemption to allow an officer to deploy a mobile tracking device on a fleeing vehicle in narrowly defined circumstances.
Senator Erin Coleman (author of a second proposal) described a…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
