WALKER, Mich. — Michigan State Police (MSP) have announced a policy change. They will now only pursue vehicles if they have probable cause to suspect a life-threatening or violent felony.
Before this change, state police would engage in pursuits in situations such as a person failing to pull over for a traffic stop.
Lieutenant Michelle Robinson said chases will be limited to instances including suspected murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, armed robbery and more.
"That allows us to reduce that risk factor, and to keep the innocent bystanders, the suspects in these cases, as well as our troopers safe," said Robinson.
She said the policy reflects leadership change that took place within the past year along with looking at previous incidents. One of the incidents was a crash in Muskegon County in June 2023 where a stolen vehicle being chased by MSP crashed into an assisting cruiser, injuring two troopers and two teens.
"Every time that you have anyone that gets injured, whether it be a citizen or a police community member, that's something that you will always take into account," said Lt. Robinson.
Lewis Langham, a retired MSP lieutenant of 25 years now turned law professor, said this policy aims at limiting the number of high-speed chases.
"There's been traffic accidents and some fatalities involved in police chases. Under most circumstances, it involves the person attempting to elude law enforcement officers, and they end up running into another vehicle trying to escape law enforcement, so law enforcement not chasing that particular vehicle, the hope is that vehicle will decelerate and not go as fast and not cause any harm or injury," said Langham.
Langham said that there have also been some cases of law enforcement striking bystanders.
Langham said that time and record keeping will tell if this new policy has a negative impact on community policing.
"It's somewhat restrictive, obviously, for law enforcement officers in the state police with this new policy, but you know, it has some benefits, and it has some drawbacks, like any policy that would come out and just kind of have to balance the pros and cons of it," said Langham.
Robinson said state police will be using aviation tools to follow stolen vehicles and suspects without adding risk to public safety.
"You cannot outrun the radio, we have the plate information, the vehicle information," said Robinson.
Robinson and Langham both called on drivers to continue following the law and pulling over when being stopped by state police.
"It's not worth the risk for you to be stopped by the police and decide to speed away where you could end up committing a felony and find yourself in prison on an involuntary murder charge for 15 years," said Langham.
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