Officers won’t be allowed to chase people on foot if they suspect them of minor offenses such as parking violations, driving on suspended licenses or drinking alcohol in public. 
New officers stand as an honor guard marches during a Chicago Police Department graduation and promotion ceremony on Oct. 20, 2021.John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune via Getty Images
CHICAGO — Chicago police officers will no longer be allowed to chase people on foot simply because they run away or give chase over minor offenses, the department said Tuesday, more than a year after two foot pursuits ended with officers fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy and 22-year-old man.
The new policy adheres closely to a draft policy put in place after those shootings and gives the department something it has never had: permanent rules about when officers can and can’t engage in an activity that can endanger themselves, those they’re chasing and bystanders.
“The safety of our community members and our officers remain at the core of this new foot pursuit policy,” Superintendent David Brown said in a statement announcing the policy, which will be implemented by the end of the summer. “We collaborated internally with our officers and externally with our residents to develop a policy we all have a stake in.”
Under the policy, officers may give chase if they believe a person is committing or about to commit a felony, a Class A misdemeanor such as domestic battery, or a serious traffic offense such as drunken driving and street racing that could risk injuring others.
Officers won’t be allowed to chase people on foot if they suspect them of minor offenses such as parking violations, driving on suspended licenses or drinking alcohol in public. But they will still have discretion to people who they’ve determined are committing or about to commit crimes that post “an obvious threat to any person.”
Perhaps most significantly, the policy makes clear that the days of officers giving chase just because someone tries to avoid them are over.
“People may avoid contact with a member for many reasons other than involvement in criminal activity,” the policy states.
The names of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez, 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.
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