Born [Not] To Run

Police Cruisers And Getaway Cars Are Racing Toward An Unknown Future.

- Eleanor Cummins

That’s an old story, but 84 years after Parker’s and Barrow’s deaths, car chases remain common: In 2012 alone, police in the United States racked up 68,000 pursuits, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Half of these chases started with a simple traffic stop—a broken taillight, failure to signal. But then, for various reasons, these drivers had reasons to rabbit, from outstanding warrants to smoldering joints to illegal weapons. Whatever the trigger, most police pursuits today are pretty short. Two-thirds end in fewer than 3 miles, but even a quick chase can turn deadly. USA Today noted that 11,506 people died between 1979 and 2013 as the result of car chases. Many of them were bystanders.

It’s because of these grim statistics that police brass now actively discourage high-speed pursuits. “We do traffic enforcement to make people safe,” says Lt. David Ferry of the Los Angeles Police Department. “If I’m going to chase someone because they ran a light, I’m going to create a more dangerous scenario than if I don’t take action.” So Ferry and his colleagues are more deliberate. LAPD helicopters radio the direction of suspect cars to police cruisers below, allowing cops to make safer pursuit decisions. “We won’t be right up on you, but we’ll still get you,” Ferry says. Oftentimes, they’ll just call in a scofflaw’s plate and check for violations. If there are none, they’ll simply mail a summons. Despite their best efforts, the LAPD gave chase 749 times in 2017, up from 394 in 2014.