Say what you want about Lori Lightfoot's current tenure as Mayor of Chicago and her fight to curb police brutality and gang violence, but the one thing that she should not be scrutinized for is lack of trying. In wake of the high-profile shootings of Adam Toledo (13) and Anthony Alvarez (22), last March, an emotional Mayor Lightfoot declared, "As Mayor, I am directing that a new policy be in place before the Summer." This was her response to two of the most popular incidents that started with a police chase and ended in the fatal shooting of the person being chased. Although the timeliness of her proclamation didn't align with her original target date, Lightfoot has hit her mark, one year later, with the launching of a new foot pursuit policy, in accordance with the Chicago Police Department.
By order of Chicago's new foot pursuit policy, the city's police officers will no longer be able to chase down a suspect if they chose to evade their advances on foot. Now, if a suspect runs away, Chicago police officers will have to ascertain the situation based on new guidelines. The policy will go into affect at the end of this Summer and it states that police officers may not start a chase if: They are hurt, they are unable to communicate or if they lose their gun. In the event that a CPD officer decides to pursue a suspect on foot, they will be required to file out a foot pursuit report and they will also be subject to heavy supervision.
On Tuesday, Majori Lightfoot addressed the media about the new foot pursuit policy and why she believes it is the best course of action to perserve the safety of the police officers, suspects and the law abiding citizens of Chicago.
"Fundamentally, whatever the policy is, and this is something that I've been talking about really since 2018 when I ran, it's one of the most dangerous activities that our officers engage in," Lightfoot said. "It's dangerous for [the police officers], it's dangerous for the person who is being pursued, and it's dangerous for the public," Lightfoot said. "But fundamentally what this comes down to is having a policy that makes sense. This has now been signed off on by the judge, by the monitor, by the attorney general, so I think it's a very solid plan."
She continued: "But really, the devil's going to be in the details of the training. We've got to make sure that our officers understand what the rules of the road are, and that we're providing them with the proper training to protect themselves, protect the person that they're pursuing, and importantly to protect the public."
For more on this story, watch the video above.
Source: NY Daily News
