Oversight board wants to seriously limit when San Diego police officers can chase drivers

After reviewing data from more than 1,000 San Diego police pursuits, a city oversight group has recommended the Police Department make about a dozen changes to its chase policy.

One of its top-line suggestions? The department should only engage in pursuits over incidents related to a violent crime. That’s a far cry from the department’s current policy, which allows officers to initiate pursuits over even minor violations.

The city’s Commission on Police Practices launched the evaluation after an unlicensed driver who was allegedly racing away from officers smashed his vehicle into another car. Two brothers, Mason and Malikai Orozco-Romero, ages 4 and 8, were passengers in the vehicle that was struck and didn’t survive.

During its analysis, the commission took a look at 1,044 chases San Diego officers initiated from 2019 through July 16.

The review found that most chases, about 60 percent, started over infractions — minor offenses such as speeding or failing to stop at a red light.

Another finding: One in five pursuits, or about 220 chases, involved some kind of collision, and 75 percent of those crashes left one or more people injured.

Black and Latino drivers were disproportionately involved in city pursuits, the commission found. Nearly a quarter of pursued drivers were Black people, who account for only 6 percent of the city’s population. About 40 percent of drivers were Latino people, who make up 30 percent of the population.