A Lubbock Police chase that involves two unknown suspects at 3 a.m. in West Lubbock on Tuesday marks the forty-second police chase in the area since the start of 2017.
“Since the first of the year, we’ve had 42 police pursuits within the jurisdiction, within Lubbock Police Department,” LPD Assistant Chief Neal Barron said.
“It’s a little bit more than what we had last year,” Barron added. “It’s on the way to being more. It hasn’t passed that number yet but if we keep up at this pace then it will be more than what we had last year.”
Barron said they recorded about 100 police chases in 2016.
“It’s a rapid decision-making process during a pursuit,” Barron said. “When you’re traveling in a vehicle at a high rate of speed your mind is processing a lot of details, a lot of adaptations that you need to make in your driving style.”
Barron said an officer must first call dispatch and a superior about his location, vehicle tags, and reason for pursuit before any action.
He added that the decision is based on risk factors to the officer, suspect, and overall public to judge the danger of the pursuit.
An officer can call off a chase during any time of the pursuit. Barron said 14 of the 42 chases were canceled due to a variety of risk factors.
Similar to the police chase on Tuesday, Barron said stolen vehicles are a common trend in the chases they have pursued.
“Out of the pursuits that we’ve had this year, the largest number of pursuits actually come from traffic violations,” Barron said. “The second most this year come from stolen vehicles.”
Other trends show the actual pursuit is less than an average drive to your local grocery store.
“33% of those (chases) were finished between one to two miles, another 33% of those were less than 5 miles,” Barron said.
Barron added that these cases also show these chases becoming more prevalent during late night hours.
“Between 9 and midnight, and between midnight and 3 a.m.,” Barron said. “There’s a lot of things that influence whether or not supervisors allow a pursuit to continue. I think during those hours there is less of a perplexities for endangering the public, there’s less traffic on the roadway.”
Anyone with information on Tuesday’s police chase near 4th Street and Toledo is asked to call Crime Line at 741-1000.
