OLYMPIA — State lawmakers will keep chasing the right answer when it comes to giving police the green light to pursue people trying to get away.
On Thursday, the Secretary of State’s Office certified signatures on a proposed ballot initiative that would erase requirements preventing an officer from initiating a chase unless they suspect a person has committed certain crimes, such as a violent offense or driving while drunk or high on drugs.
Supporters of the initiative argue the current rules encourage criminals to run from the cops.
Supporters of the current pursuit restrictions argue that high-speed chases are dangerous for suspects, police and anyone else driving on a road where the chase takes place.
More than 400,000 Washington residents signed the ballot measure to do away with the pursuit restrictions, Initiative 2113, according to supporters.
The initiative was organized by Let’s Go Washington, a political action committee dedicated to repeal laws passed by the Democrat-led state Legislature.
Brian Heywood, a business owner from Redmond, has bankrolled the pursuit proposal and five other initiatives, spending $1 million a pop trying to get them on the November ballot.
Because the effort to make police chases common again is an initiative to the Legislature, its future lies in the hands of lawmakers who have three options on what to do with it. They can do any of the following:
- 1. Adopt the initiative as written.
- 2. Reject it.
- 3. Refuse to act on it.
In the case of options 2 and 3, the initiative would go on the November ballot.
Lawmakers also have the option to write and approve an alternate ballot measure.
In 2021, Democrats passed a collection of laws intended to tighten guidelines for law enforcement spurred by the national debate on police ethics in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Among those laws was one requiring police to have probable cause that a person in a car committed a violent crime, a sex offense, was driving intoxicated or fleeing arrest before chasing them in a vehicle.
Raising the bar for police chases spurred frustration among some law enforcement communities that argued the tighter leash impeded their ability to do their jobs and keep crimes — such as theft and vandalism — at bay. But supporters of the new law think it has likely saved lives.
For an initiative to the Legislature to be considered, it must have a minimum of 324,516 signatures. Lawmakers have until the end of the legislative session, March 7, to decide what to do with the police chase initiative and any other ballot initiatives that collected enough signatures to be certified.
