CENTRALIA, Wash. — Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham said his department has had to become creative to chase after criminals.
“I challenged my officers to come up with new ways to get things done and they responded,” said Denham.
In 2021, state legislators passed the most severe restrictions on police pursuits.
The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs blame an increase in crime, specifically car theft, on the policy.
Denham said criminals know they won’t be chased for property crimes, like catalytic converter theft or car theft, and they’re taking advantage of the law.
“They’re smart, they know what they’re doing,” said Denham, “That empowers them to actually victimize even more people. That’s not good.”
But Denham said his office has been able to recover more stolen cars this spring, than in the past two years.
He credits a network of cameras programmed to identify license plates on vehicles involved in crimes.
The city is renting 20 Flock Safety cameras for a two-month trial period which ends in July.
Denham said he will go to council members requesting funding, more than $50,000, to sign a two-year agreement with the company.
Denham said his officers are using the information from the cameras to go after car thieves without having to chase them.
When a camera tips off an officer to a stolen car’s location, the officer waits until the vehicle is parked to approach the car.
Then the officer places a strip of spikes in front of one of the tires, called a Terminator, so if the suspect drives off, the tire will get flat.
“We’re waiting for them. We want to impede them from getting away so we don’t lose them in a pursuit,” said Denham.
Denham said the devices are making a difference, but not as much as allowing officers to chase after property criminals again.
"Even with Flock Safety, even with the Terminators, the problem that we have is we still have a bunch of cars that run from us, stolen cars. We get behind and try to stop them, that's the only avenue we have. They take off, and when they take off, we have to let them go. That's all we can do."
The next two-year state budget approved $3 million in grant funding for police agencies to obtain “modern vehicle pursuit” technology, including GPS devices, license plate cameras and drones.