The Department of Public Safety is developing a new policy to tell officers when and how to pursue fleeing suspects, DPS Interim Director Tom Hicks said. The announcement came just three months after an officer hit a bicyclist with his vehicle during an early morning pursuit.
The policy will be the first of its kind for the department; currently, DPS has only vague written directives concerning the use of vehicles, but it says nothing about pursuits, Hicks said.
Hicks explained that the summer incident was only part of the impetus behind formulating a written policy.
“That incident certainly played a part in it,” Hicks said, “but it wasn’t the only reason behind it. We have a general policy that basically explains that officers need to operate the vehicle in a careful and prudent manner, but it doesn’t say anything about where they can drive the vehicles or the different expectations about night and day.”
In the aftermath of the July 21 incident — where former officer Michael John Bonertz knocked Eugene resident Donald Tean Gariepy off his bicycle — Bonertz was found to have violated Hicks’ verbal order to refrain from driving on sidewalks.
The new directive will also specifically guide officers on when and how to use their bicycles and patrol vehicles in all situations, Hicks said.
Hicks made the announcement of the new policy at a Public Safety Advisory Group meeting Oct. 23.
“The reason why I wanted to bring this to the committee is because of the articles that have been running in the Emerald,” Hicks said at the meeting. “We’re going to draft a policy that specifically includes pursuit use of vehicles.”
ASUO Legislative Associate Gabe Kjos, a voting member of PSAG, said a written policy is important to help ensure DPS officers are accountable for their actions.
“I think it’s important to put (guidelines) into writing,” he said. “Not only so that there’s a process, but also so that it makes DPS accountable so that when there’s a situation that’s either justified or unjustified, we have some policy to fall back on.”
Fellow PSAG voting member and ASUO Campus Outreach Coordinator Shannon Tarvin agreed.
“I think it’s important for them to have outlined specifics with regard to what they can and cannot do,” she said. “They need to be clear of what their boundaries are.”
At the meeting, Hicks handed out copies of the EPD pursuit policy as an example of another agency’s policy, but Hicks explained that EPD’s policy is not the blueprint for what his department intends to write because DPS’ jurisdiction ends off-campus. He also said DPS is not directly working with EPD, although DPS will probably ask the agency to evaluate a draft of the policy.
Hicks said he will advise the University as policies are created and changed.
“We certainly want to keep the University administration informed of our policies and procedures,” he said, adding that the department will ask for input from University General Counsel Melinda Grier, who is a non-voting member of the advisory group.
The advisory group will only give recommendations about the policies, Hicks said. The department reserves full authority to create and implement policies.
“I think this is something that will help the officers feel more confident as they’re going about their jobs,” Hicks said.
The policy is in its preliminary stages, Hicks said. Department heads have looked at the current policy and still need to create a draft of the new policy. Hicks said he has no specific timeline for completion of the policy and didn’t know if a draft would be completed in time for the advisory group’s Nov. 20 meeting.