EVERETT — Vehicle thefts declined after Washington loosened restrictions on police pursuits, but critics say less regulations may jeopardize public safety.
Police pursuits have been under scrutiny since 2021, when the Washington Legislature imposed strict requirements on the practice in 2021. Lawmakers loosened the standards in 2023 and again in 2024.
Under restrictions from House Bill 1054, officers couldn’t engage in a vehicular pursuit unless they had probable cause for a violent or sex offense, an escape, reasonable suspicion someone was driving under the influence, the individual fleeing posed an imminent threat, or a pursuit was necessary for apprehending or identifying the suspect.
Probable cause is achieved when the officer feels a crime has been committed, either because they witnessed a crime, are relying on witness testimony, or saw a vehicle matching the suspect’s description fleeing, said Washington State Patrol Director of Public Affairs Chris Loftis.
Before the first rollback in 2023, officers needed authorization from a supervisor to engage in a pursuit, according to House Bill 1054. Supervisors weighed factors for justifying the pursuit among other safety conditions, such as speed, weather, traffic, road conditions and the known presence of minors in the vehicle.
Law enforcement said the law spurred a rise in vehicle thefts across the state because suspects knew officers couldn’t pursue them. In Snohomish County, vehicle thefts rose by 75.3% between 2021 and 2023, according to annual data from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
“We had one person a few years ago, before this, that had stolen more than 100 cars in a year,” Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson said. “If you’re not arresting that person, and they’re out stealing cars every few days, there’s definitely an impact.”
In 2023, the legislature lowered the standard to reasonable suspicion and added vehicular assaults and domestic violence to the list of pursuable offenses. Under the first rollback, officers could pursue a suspect who posed a serious risk of harm, instead of an imminent threat, to the safety of others. Officers still must notify supervisors before beginning a pursuit, rather than request approval.
Loftis said reasonable suspicion is a softer version of probable cause, where you see someone behaving suspiciously.
“Why are they behaving suspiciously? Well, you don’t know, but you won’t know until you stop them,” Loftis said. “You turn on the lights. You try to initiate contact, and they flee. Fleeing from the police, it gives most people a reasonable suspicion that you’ve done something wrong.”
Lawmakers rolled back pursuit standards further with Initiative 2113 in 2024. Now, officers can engage in a pursuit if they reasonably believe a suspect committed a violation of traffic or criminal laws or has an arrest warrant.
Between 2023 to 2024, vehicle thefts dropped 31.7%, according to Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs data.
Critics to the rollbacks cite concerns about potential injuries and fatalities resulting from pursuits.
“Since the pursuits have been rolled back, there have been many, many deaths of bystanders and innocent people as a result of these pursuits,” said the Washington Coalition of Police Accountability Communications Manager Dom Campese. “We expect that to continue.”
A 2025 University of Washington study looking at pursuit data between 2019 and 2024 from 113 agencies found 22 deaths stemming from pursuits, with the suspect drivers making up the most fatalities.
One example from this year happened around 11:10 p.m. June 17, both a Washington State Patrol trooper and a Snohomish County Sheriff’s deputy separately attempted a traffic stop of a 2012 Mini Cooper driving at speeds around 100 mph on southbound I-5 near milepost 189. The driver did not stop for either officer.
The trooper terminated the pursuit after about a minute. However, the deputy followed the driver as it weaved in and out of traffic toward Mountlake Terrace and then Edmonds, where the Mini Cooper drove through a barrier on the ferry loading ramp before coming to rest upside down in the Puget Sound.
First responders rescued three people from the water and transported them to Harborview Medical Center. The Snohomish County Dive Team recovered two passengers who were deceased in the water.
“The bottom line is pursuits are dangerous. They’re dangerous for everyone involved,” Loftis said. “The last few years showed that no pursuits is also dangerous, and so you have to figure out that balance.”
Pursuits by the Washington State Patrol peaked in 2020 at 1,272 before dropping by 70% in 2022 and steadily increasing each year since, the study said.
While pursuits initially spiked within the first six months after the law was rolled back in 2024, they have leveled at what Johnson said she hopes is a “new normal.”
“If somebody’s driving reckless under the old pursuit laws, and they get away with it one day, they’re going to continue day after day, but now that we can arrest them and hold them accountable and impound their car, they’re not out there doing it,” Johnson said. “We’ve absolutely not only seen better overall traffic safety, but we’ve also seen a reduction in things like vehicle thefts, which has been very helpful to us in our community.”
Between 2023 and 2024, there was a 35.9% rise in pursuits initiated by troopers, the study said.
Campese said the original legislation curbed unnecessary pursuits, but law enforcement claimed they were unclear on the new standards.
“They were unclear on the law and didn’t want to, you know, test its limits. So, any chance of pursuit was basically not enabled,” Campese said. “There was nothing unclear about the legislation from our perspective, and from legislators or the Attorney General’s perspective.”
Johnson said she believes concerns over traffic safety issues caused by pursuits are valid, but that community feedback has been positive.
“The feedback from the community and the public is that the numbers speak for themselves,” she said. “I believe that fatalities have come down in Washington State. We know car thefts have come down.”
Law enforcement, like the sheriff’s office and Everett Police Department, said they will continue to follow their own internal pursuit policies in addition to state law.
“Everett has always had a conservative pursuit policy,” Everett Police Department Public Information Officer Natalie Given said in an email. “The effects that we experienced from the changing legislation are minimal.”
At the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, deputies will only engage in pursuit for felony crimes, mandatory arrest crimes and traffic crimes that are a threat to the public, like reckless driving or driving under the influence, Johnson said
Loftis said the Washington State Patrol always allowed officers to have autonomy in initiating pursuits, and supervisors had the authority to call off pursuits.
“When the laws changed, we adapted our guidelines and our processes,” Loftis said. “We were glad to see the latest changes that offer the trooper and the officer on the ground and their immediate supervisors greater discretion to whether a pursuit was in the best interest of public safety.”
Earlier this month, around 3:55 p.m. Sept. 5, a deputy pursued a suspect driving a stolen vehicle recklessly through Lynnwood. The driver sideswiped several cars, ran a red light, drove into oncoming traffic and crashed into two vehicles at 14th Place West and 164th Street Southwest. The deputy was able to arrest the suspect after he fled on foot.
“There’s still many times every year, every week, every day, really, where a trooper is making a decision along with his or her supervisor about whether the pursuit is worthy of the risk that it entails,” Loftis said. “Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t.”
Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com; X: @JennaMillikan
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