INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department engages in more vehicle pursuits than any other department its size, according to new numbers released Tuesday.
The data comes as IMPD is reviewing its pursuit policy – an initiative started by former chief Troy Riggs and continued by current Chief Brian Roach, who says he'd like to unveil the new policy in the next two weeks.
"I'm a little anxious," Roach said. "Because heaven forbid there's a pursuit and somebody gets killed and it would have been prohibited."
According to numbers provided by IMPD, Indianapolis police officers have engaged in more than 460 vehicle pursuits in each of the past two years.
That's more than twice the average number of pursuits reported by similarly sized departments.
In 2016, the Fort Worth Police Department, which has roughly the same number of sworn officers as IMPD, reported only 182 vehicle pursuits. IMPD, on the other hand, had 464.
So far in 2017, IMPD has already engaged in 106 vehicle pursuits – putting it on pace for another record year.
Those pursuits include a high-speed chase Thursday evening that ended with the suspect and an innocent bystander being pried out of their cars by firefighters. The bystander was initially transported to the hospital in critical condition, but was later upgraded to serious condition.
The suspect, 23-year-old Dominique J. Carter, was transported to the hospital in serious condition and later placed under arrest.
MORE | High-speed pursuit ends in crash, leaving bystander critically injured
One of the questions the new policy is expected to address is when stolen vehicles should be pursued. Roach said he thinks that will be limited to "fresh steals" – which still would have authorized Thursday night's chase.
Chases for less-serious offenses will likely become less frequent, too.
"I think everybody understands that pursuits for infractions are going to be looked at," Roach said.
The review is intended to reduce collateral damage to people and property caused by pursuits. In 2015, IMPD estimated pursuits resulted in damage to 386 vehicles at a cost of more than $900,000.
Out of the 106 pursuits so far this year, 30 have already resulted in crashes. IMPD ended 2016 with 464 pursuits, out of which 37 were terminated mid-pursuit, and of which 94 ended in a crash.
Any new version of the pursuit policy will be developed with feedback from multiple stakeholders, including the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, which isn't convinced there is an issue with the current policy.
FOP President Rick Snyder said officers are well aware of the danger pursuits entail, but that police have a duty to uphold the law.
"It's important to remember that our officers don't initiate the pursuit. They initiate the action to enforce the law. It's the suspect that initiates the pursuit," Snyder said. "The Indiana Supreme Court has recognized the fleeing itself as a reckless violent felony. I guess the question to be asked is: How many reckless violent felonies do we expect our officers to look the other way and not address?"
He said he doesn't think the fact that Indianapolis has more pursuits than similarly sized departments is as "clear-cut" as the numbers suggest.
"If the problem is the number of pursuits, either you tell the bad guys to stop running from police, or you tell the police to stop chasing the bad guys," he said.
"Look," he added, "there's no doubt that no one understands the dangers of vehicle pursuits better than the actual patrol officer who bears the significant risk of injury or death while trying to apprehend the fleeing suspect. It isn't that the police or FOP or officers are being flippant about the discussion. We want to better understand what we're trying to achieve."
Ultimately, changes to the pursuit policy will have to be approved by the three-member General Order Committee before going into effect. There's no set timeframe for when that could occur.
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