Bend police chief explains recently revised pursuit prohibition, exceptions policy

(Update: Adding video, comment from police chief, clarifying Redmond P.D.'s chase policy)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Not long after Chief Mike Krantz took the reins of the City of Bend Police Department, he made a change to the agency’s pursuit policy.

“Pursuits are dangerous,” Krantz told NewsChannel 21 on Tuesday. “They are dangerous for the officers involved. They’re dangerous for the offenders running. They’re dangerous for the communities.”

He said one of his goals was to reduce the number of pursuits by his department.

 “Part of that was not only editing the policy, but also changing the name to be clear about, truly what we have is a prohibition, except under certain circumstances,” Krantz said.

The change was made more than a year ago, he added.

“It’s a mindset change around ensuring our officers are taking in all the consideration of all the accounts and the facts that are going on, and then making clear decisions, based on the policy,” Krantz said.

There are, of course exceptions, but simply changing the title of the policy, Krantz said, has actually led to fewer pursuits.

The Redmond Police Department has a restrictive policy, but stops short of prohibiting pursuits. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office does not have such a prohibition.

That can lead to situations like the one last week near the Powell Butte Highway, where Bend Police chose not to pursue a suspect, while the sheriff's office did (and eventually did help the DCSO deputy because no others were available).

“Deschutes County was present, they engaged in the pursuit and our officers continued to cover the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, which is a reasonable coverage,” Krantz said. “We want to make sure our partner agencies are safe. But it wasn’t a use of (the sheriff's office). because (they have no pursuit prohibition).”

That situation also was in a remote area, with little traffic, but Krantz said the nature of Bend’s urban footprint contributes to the policy as well, compared to Redmond or the more rural county.

 “Our pursuit policy is probably a little more restrictive, because of the jurisdiction we work in,” he said. “We have more traffic, denser population, so we take different considerations, compared to other agencies.”

To Krantz, making sure a pursuit is in the interest of community is top priority.

Here is that policy, as posted publicly by the department.