Liability and Accountability

Few pursuits are called off when a stolen police car is involved. After all, a suspect is fleeing in a high-performance vehicle that generally contains a shotgun. This perpetrator also has access to lights and sirens, and can monitor the police radio. The result is a major liability issue: if the stolen cruiser results in a death, everybody will question it; the media will be relentless.

Attorneys for parties adversely affected by events involving stolen patrol cars have recently started looking at this issue as preventable, especially with today's technologically advanced anti-theft devices. More law enforcement agencies are being held accountable for damage, injuries and deaths as the result of these incidents.

In Columbus, OH a citizen's car was damaged when two boys driving a stolen police car plowed into it. The boys took the cruiser when an officer left the vehicle running with the lights on and went to back up another officer. Initially, the Columbus Division of Police denied the claim under Ohio's Immunity Law that protects a city from liability when officers are responding to emergency, urgent or dangerous situations. The decision was overturned however, and the department was found liable and ordered to pay all damages.

Emergency runs, rapid departure and immunity no longer protect agencies from liability. Accountability is a must which is why more departments are evaluating their current procedures and looking at anti-theft equipment.

"If you don't have the key you're not going anywhere," explained Jeff Christensen, President of Secure-Idle. "When you turn on the system, physically the car is 100% running and functional, but mentally the car is 100% off. To disengage the system, you simply put the key back into the ignition, turn it to the on position, put the car in drive and drive away. If someone jumps into a car equipped with our unit and tries to put the shifter in place it won't move, so he jumps out."

According to Christensen, "In most cases involving stolen police cars, the keys were left in the ignition with the doors unlocked while the officers were performing their duties. Our system takes only one second to activate and it prevents anyone from stealing the car. Plus, you won't lock yourself out of your vehicle and no duplicate keys are necessary."

It Can Happen Anywhere

Paradise Valley, AZ, Police Sergeant Bruce Barrows was directing traffic around an accident he encountered one morning to the west of Phoenix. He was shocked when he looked back toward his own car and saw it being stolen by one of the drivers involved in the accident.

The incident began when Barrows was in route to a meeting. On the way, he saw the crash, blocked the lane with his semi-marked police car and turned on the red and blue lights mounted in his rear window. While waiting for Arizona Department of Public Safety officers to arrive, Barrows began directing traffic around the crash scene.

Not long after, he realized his car was being stolen. Within minutes, another crash was reported not far down the freeway. Sure enough, it was the suspect in the Paradise Valley Police car.

The suspect slammed into another car, rolled it over and forced it onto the shoulder of the road. The police car sustained extensive front-end damage. The driver of the other car suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries. The suspect wormed out of the stolen vehicle and began running through a nearby field, where he was soon apprehended.

Another incident occurred in the rural Northwest. "Our cars are always left running and unlocked and we drive single-person cars so we don't have anyone standing by in the vehicle," says Trooper Don W. Ginter, Senior Driving Instructor, for the Washington State Patrol Academy. "When you lose a $35,000 car and all the equipment it contains, you have to take a critical look at the situation."

Ginter's department recently had a patrol car stolen in wide-open territory, away from all populated areas. "The incident happened 30  miles west of Spokane," he recalls. "We made an arrest and were lucky this time. There was no significant damage to the patrol car, no accidents and no injuries."

Stolen police cars are not a problem isolated to high-density, inner-city areas. In some ways, it can be more dangerous to have a patrol car stolen in a less populated region than an urban area. The officer is left stranded miles away from anything without a vehicle, radio or backup. He may even be injured and in need of emergency medical care.