The new policy gives the department permanent rules about when officers can and can't engage in an activity that can endanger themselves, those they're chasing and bystanders.
, who were armed when they ran from police in separate March 2021 pursuits, are not mentioned in the news release announcing the policy or the policy itself. But those pursuits — particularly that of Alvarez — cast a shadow over the policy.
Under the policy, the chase of Alvarez would apparently not have been allowed for two key reasons. First, when police chased him for a traffic violation they knew who he was and where he lived, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx told reporters in March when she announced that the officers involved in the two shootings wouldn't be charged. Second, officers are no longer allowed to chase on foot people who are suspected of the kind of minor offense that led to the chase.
The policy also makes a point of reminding officers that they or their supervisors will not be criticized or disciplined for deciding against a foot pursuit or calling one off — the significance of which a law professor who has studied the department and was part of a legal team that successfully fought the city over its refusal to release video of a police shooting said can't be overstated.
Officers are also prohibited from provoking chases, such as by employing a tactic in which they speed in their squad cars toward a group of people, stop suddenly and jump out"with the intention of stopping anyone in the group who flees."Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a scathing report saying that too many police chases in the city were unnecessary or ended with officers shooting people they did not have to shoot.
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