Chiefs to Seek Bans on Firing at Cars

The chiefs of two of California’s largest police agencies said Thursday that officers should generally be barred from firing at moving vehicles, a change that would sharply narrow acceptable use of deadly force.

California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick said in an interview that his department would revise its policies to emphasize safety when his officers pursue vehicles.

“There were a number of recent incidents where officers fired at vehicles and where we believed, although it was legally justified, it was not the way the CHP officers should conduct themselves,” said Helmick, who has the final say on the policy.

“Officer safety is very important to us, but the potential damage created by firing into a vehicle is such that we want to ensure our officers use this tactic on rare occasion.”

Likewise, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said at a news conference that he would seek changes that no longer allow officers to shoot at vehicles coming at them.

Bratton said he would prohibit his officers from shooting at people in a vehicle “unless the officer or other person are threatened by deadly force, other than the moving vehicle.”

A draft revision of CHP policy requires officers to get out of the path of vehicles and “seek a place of safety.” The guidelines also state that officers “shall not intentionally stand and/or step into the path of a vehicle, creating circumstances where the use of deadly force becomes necessary.”

CHP policy now allows officers to wound or kill a suspect even if it could be shown later that the officer could have safely avoided the oncoming vehicle.

Bratton said he also was planning to sharply limit the discretion of officers to shoot at moving vehicles.

“We’ll be training our officers more significantly and tactically on how to use the police vehicle as protection when it is appropriate,” Bratton said. “Sometimes, the best thing to deal with a vehicle that might be backed up toward them or coming at them is, if possible, to try to get out of the way.”

Specific details of the LAPD proposal were still being worked out but would reflect what Bratton called “best practices” across the country combined with policies that would reflect policing realities in Los Angeles.

The LAPD revision comes after a recent televised shooting near Santa Monica High School, where LAPD officers shot repeatedly at a robbery suspect as he slowly backed his car toward their patrol cars at the end of a 90-minute predawn pursuit.

Police departments in Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit and other cities have adopted such restrictions in recent years, in some cases after high-profile incidents in which officers shot and killed motorists.

The Los Angeles Police Commission has the final say on any city police policies. Bratton said the changes would be part of an overall review of the pursuit policy in effect since early last year; under the policy, officers are restricted from pursuing suspects for traffic infractions. During the third quarter of last year, after the policy was enacted, pursuits dropped 38%, Bratton said.

At present, LAPD officers are entitled to use deadly force to protect themselves or others from immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. They also are allowed to shoot at fleeing felons suspected of having seriously hurt or killed someone when there is a substantial risk that the suspect would do so again if not apprehended.

The department’s policy also states, however, “firing at/or from moving vehicles is generally prohibited.” But Bratton on Thursday said his actions “would tighten the policy more.”

Bratton also said he would ask the commission to allow use, on a limited basis, of spike strips and the pit maneuver, in which police try to spin out a suspect vehicle by bumping it from behind.

Police Commission President David Cunningham III said the commission was well aware of Bratton’s proposals and welcomed them.

“It’s something that he has worked on for months and he has kept us informed about it,” Cunningham said. “As you know, we changed the pursuit policy, that was the initiation. Now, we are examining the following and the end of pursuit.”

But the proposed changes drew a terse response from police rank-and-file.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents officers, asked the Police Commission on Wednesday to carefully consider any proposals from Bratton and said any rules that direct officers to get out of the way of vehicles would be unacceptable to its members.