Contact your legislators before Tuesday’s critical vote and sign on to AWC’s letter by the end of day on Thursday. Now is a crucial time for cities to reach out to their House of Representatives legislators with support for changes to restrictions on police pursuits.

The House Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on SB 5352 and we strongly encourage you to join AWC’s voice on this bill. SB 5352 revises the police pursuits statute to include a “reasonable suspicion” standard and strikes a more appropriate balance between providing law enforcement with the tools needed to pursue dangerous suspects while focusing on appropriate and necessary safety standards.

Reach out to your members of the House and ask them to support SB 5352 as it stands now. Tell them:

• Passing SB 5352 as it is currently drafted is a worthwhile and important step for improving public safety. SB 5352 will allow law enforcement to engage in police pursuits with a “reasonable suspicion” standard in certain crucial situations while still seeking to balance public safety and the inherent risk of police pursuits.
• In a recent poll of likely voters, 79% supported using a reasonable suspicion standard to pursue dangerous suspects.
• Residents are concerned about public safety and crime. SB 5352 will provide additional tools for local police to address these public safety concerns.

City officials who want to see progress this session on vehicular pursuits need to make that clear to their legislators. House members need to hear from their cities how the current law is negatively impacting public safety and that SB 5352 represents important incremental progress in revising the restrictions. We are hearing that some House members are hearing that it may be better not to pass this bill because of its narrow focus – but we need action now. This bill makes important progress in providing additional public safety tools for local police.

AWC urges you to reach out today to your House members, particularly House Democrats, to urge them to ask leadership to bring the bill up for a vote and to vote in favor of SB 5352.

Act now!

Contact your legislator before Tuesday’s critical vote. Sign on to AWC’s letter.

A little more background on SB 5352

Under SB 5352 a law enforcement officer would be authorized to engage in a vehicular pursuit if all the following conditions are met:

• The officer has ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the driver or a passenger:
  • Has committed or is committing a violent offense, sex offense, or an escape; or
  • Is driving under the influence.
• The pursuit is necessary to identify or apprehend the person.
• The person poses an imminent threat to the safety of others.
• The safety risks of failing to apprehend or identify the person are considered greater than the safety risks associated with engaging in a pursuit.

The bill also modifies the procedures for supervisor involvement, including requiring the officer to receive authorization and oversight from a supervisor (or on-call supervisor in jurisdictions with fewer than ten commissioned officers) to engage in a vehicular pursuit.

Senate budget proposal

While this version of the bill does not include the two-year sunset that we had seen in previous House versions, the Senate’s proposed operating budget did include $165,000 for a technical advisory committee to develop legislative policy recommendations related to vehicular pursuits, due by November 2024.

The Senate also proposed $3 million for a law enforcement technology grant program, allowing law enforcement agencies to purchase GPS equipment, automated license plate reading technology, aircraft, and drone technology.

Dates to remember

SB 5352 is scheduled for a vote in the House Community Safety, Justice & Reentry committee on Tuesday, March 28 at 4 pm.