Yahoo Autos Report Digs Into Dysfunctional Washington Police Chase Law
Read the full story on The Auto Wire
With a new law lifting many of the police chase restrictions in the state of Washington, a local news channel’s report digs into the effects of the old law passed in 2021. At the time it was hailed as a way to combat profiling and keep the public safe. However, the report shows that wasn’t always the case.
Report claims Texas police don’t have proper pursuit training.
Unsurprisingly, deviant personalities who like breaking the law capitalized on the new restrictions. They knew if they did certain things and stayed away from others they could escape from law enforcement and essentially do whatever they wanted.
As a result, KING 5 found that while police chases fell with the new law, the number of fleeing suspects skyrocketed. Sometimes those fleeing caused fatal accidents, causing the very thing the new law was supposed to prevent.
We see this sort of thing all the time with laws and government regulation. Some call it the Law of Unintended Consequences or simply just ironic. But many get emotional when they hear about the supposed injustices meted out by police, which by the way do happen but not always in the ways we’re all spoon fed, and they jump on board with these pushes which ultimately backfire.
The pendulum seems to be swinging in the opposite direction compared to 2020 and 2021 when many states, counties, and cities passed laws or new policies which restricted police chases. While we don’t believe in completely unrestricted pursuit practices since law enforcement should be keeping public safety as a priority, letting criminals flee unchecked also has consequences for overall safety on roads.
We’re curious to see how the new law in Washington plays out. Sure, some media outlets will concentrate on every crash where police are actively chasing suspects, but what will really tell the story is the overall data of the number of pursuits and how many come to a favorable resolution.
Image via KING 5 Seattle/YouTube
Follow The Auto Wire on Google News.
Join our Newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube page, and follow us on Facebook.
