ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION
25-224
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
July 11, 2023
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Comprehensive
Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 to clarify when law enforcement
officers have authority to engage in a vehicular pursuit of a suspect motor vehicle.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Law Enforcement Vehicular Pursuit Clarification Emergency
Declaration Resolution of 2023”.
Sec. 2. (a) On April 21, 2023, the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform
Amendment Act of 2022, effective April 21, 2023 (D.C. Law 24-345; 70 DCR 6316), went into
effect. The law includes a provision limiting the circumstances under which law enforcement
officers can engage in a vehicle pursuit.
(b) The law allows pursuits only in cases where an officer actually and reasonably
believes that a fleeing suspect has committed or attempted a crime of violence or poses an
immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to another person. It also requires that the
officer reasonably believe the pursuit is immediately necessary to protect another person from
the threat of serious injury or death, that the pursuit is not likely to cause serious bodily injury or
death to any person, and that all other options have been exhausted or do not reasonably lend
themselves to the circumstances.
(c) The Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) has informed the Council that in
drafting a written pursuit directive for its officers to comply with this language, it has come to
the conclusion that, in practice, the sole option available to it is to implement a no-pursuit policy.
(d) No other jurisdiction in the United States has a no-pursuit policy. Adoption of such a
policy would have substantial detrimental impacts to public safety. Two recent incidents
illustrate this:
(1) On June 21, 2023, an individual carjacked a vehicle with a 6-year-old child in
the back seat. MPD was unable to use a helicopter to follow the vehicle due to weather
conditions. Officers were unable to pursue the vehicle.
(2) On June 23, 2023, multiple individuals committed a carjacking. They fled in
the vehicle and went on to commit 5 armed robberies over the course of multiple hours in the U
Street corridor. Officers were unable to pursue because there was no “immediate” threat and they
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could not ensure the safety of the fleeing driver. The driver appeared to be aware of MPD’s
inability to pursue; he waved at an MPD officer as he drove by.
(e) To avoid these negative impacts to public safety, the concomitant emergency
legislation makes clarifying changes to the limitation on vehicle pursuits to ensure that MPD can
authorize its officers to engage in pursuits when necessary. The legislation would retain strict
limits on pursuits, allowing them only where the fleeing suspect has committed a crime of
violence or poses an imminent threat to public safety and where pursuit is necessary and can be
conducted in a way that mitigates the risk of injury to innocent people.
Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute
emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Law Enforcement Vehicular Pursuit
Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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