The NYPD will stop initiating dangerous and often high-speed pursuits of suspects fleeing non-violent crimes and traffic infractions under a new policy created by Commissioner Jessica Tisch to dramatically roll back the soaring number of chases that often lead to civilian fatalities, Streetsblog has learned.
The new policy will provide "clear, unambiguous parameters for when to initiate, continue, and terminate" chases, Tisch said, emphasizing that cops will no longer pursue suspects for traffic infractions, violations, or non-violent misdemeanors.
The new policy will become part of the NYPD patrol guide — which does not currently provide clear guidance for when a chase is warranted. Instead, it only offers a recommendation that chases must be "terminated whenever the risks to uniformed members of the service and the public outweigh the danger to the community if suspect is not immediately apprehended."
As a result of that vague language, the number of chases has soared, as first reported by The City and amplified with subsequent coverage in Streetsblog, with many of those chases of suspects of non-violent crimes ending in fatalities. Overall, the NYPD said more than two-thirds of its chases stemmed from a car stop, which would no longer be allowed under the new policy.
Of the 2,278 chases last year, 25 percent "resulted in some combination of a collision, property damage, or physical harm," the NYPD said in a statement. A police source said there were about a dozen fatalities following chases.
In one high-profile instance last year, the NYPD chased a suspected burglar, who sped off and slammed into cyclist Amanda Servedio, killing her. Since that death, residents of Astoria, Streetsblog, and Servedio's parents, have singled out the 114th Precinct as a hot spot for chases, and the local community board demanded change. Under Tisch's new policy, the chase that killed Amanda Servedio might not even have begun.
The new policy makes some very specific changes to the existing policy. For instance:
- It allows a chase only for the most serious and violent crimes, such as felonies and violent misdemeanors.
- The policy will specifically discourage a pursuit if it is in a residential community or near a school or playground. The current policy merely advises cops to consider "location and population density" before starting a pursuit.
- Officers will not be the subject of criticism or disciplinary action if they terminate a pursuit out of a concern for safely of residents or their fellow officers. There was no such language in the policy being replaced.
But overall, Tisch said, the goal is to bar high-speed pursuits based solely on the fact that a subject vehicle is fleeing a vehicular stop or if a driver is merely behaving recklessly.
The agency will conduct a monthly review of vehicle pursuits to ensure that the new policy is being followed, Streetsblog has learned.
Tisch said in a statement that her goal was twofold: To reduce the soaring numbers of chases and to provide a more concrete policy. Since Mayor Adams took office in January 2022, police chases rose from 15 to 227 two years later — an increase of 1,413 percent.
That rise prompted coverage in The City, as well as Streetsblog, which cited unsafe police chases as one of the "Five Ways New NYPD Boss Jessica Tisch Can Fix Our Dangerous Streets" in a story about her rise to Top Cop.
“New York is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and our officers deserve clear guidance and smart protocols when determining whether to engage in a vehicle pursuit on our streets,” she said. “The NYPD’s enforcement efforts must never put the public or the police at undue risk, and pursuits for violations and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary."
She added that "advanced tools of modern-day policing make it possible to apprehend criminals more safely and effectively than ever before, making many pursuits unnecessary."
The new policy rolls out on Feb. 1 and officers will be trained on its nuances starting immediately.
Police chases have always come with the risk of violence to the general public — and high-profile cases abound. In 2013, cops stopped a driver for cutting across several lanes to make a turn. When they approached the car, the driver, an unlicensed teen, fled and was chased — and the driver ended up fatally striking 4-year-old Ariel Russo, a death that shocked the city.
But chases continued. In 2020, a Bronx police officer speeding in his squad car — allegedly to respond to a shooting ... in Queens — killed 20-year-old Sofia Gomez Aguilon on Pelham Parkway, another crash that called into question police practices.
Yet police chases increased after the swearing in of Eric Adams on January 1, 2022, and was the result of an apparent decision by NYPD top brass to encourage more aggressive policing. Absent a specific chase policy, pursuits soared.
"NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell has been unapologetic [about] the expansion of the aggressive tactic that coincided with his appointment in December [2022] as the third highest-ranking person in the police department." the City reported in 2023.
“'With the enforcement of more moving summonses and car stops, and people thinking they can take off on us? Those days are over,' he said at the time when asked about the car-chase surge," the City story continued.
Well the days that were over are now over. Chell, now the Chief of Department, himself was quoted in the NYPD statement throwing his support for the new policy.
“Our overarching objective — every minute of every day — is to keep the people of this great city safe,” he said. “In order to do that, we need to pursue criminals when appropriate and stay our hand when the risks to the public and to our cops outweigh the benefits. Our revised policy strikes that critical balance and will make our city safer for police and our communities.”
Advocates were cautiously optimistic.
"Anything that reduces police chases is sure to make streets safer and less chaotic," said Sara Lind, the co-executive director of Open Plans, the livable streets group that shares a parent company with Streetsblog. "What’s even more heartening is that this sends a clear message that the NYPD is taking their impact on the public realm seriously. It would be hugely beneficial if we could count that agency as an ally for people-centered streets."
Lind called on Tisch to make other meaningful reforms over "other ways that police endanger our streets — parking in bike and bus lanes and crosswalks, placard abuse, obscured license plates."
Servedio's mother told Streetsblog that she approves of the new policy — but wish it wasn't needed as a corrective to prior bad policy.
"Does it [the change in policy] give me solace? Yes, but it infuriates me even more than I have been because it just solidifies to me that THIS NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED," said Ary Servedio, Amanda's mother, in response to a question from Streetsblog.
But she did add, on behalf of herself and her husband, Frank, that the change in policy "brings back unbearable pain and anguish," but also "reminds me that others are out there working to bring change in her name, because she lived, and HER LIFE MATTERED! I want them to remember what they took away from us and her."
