Washington state drivers refuse to stop for cops after Democrat laws prevent high-speed pursuits

Darren Wright, a WSP spokesperson told Northwest News Network, "Something’s changed. People are not stopping right now. It’s happening three to five times a shift on some nights and then a couple times a week on day shift."

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According to the outlet, from January 1 to May 17, the agency logged 934 failure-to-yield incidents. Local police departments are also seeing the same issue. According to the outlet, the Puyallup Police Department recorded 148 instances of drivers fleeing from officers from July 26, 2021 to May 18, 2022.

Lakewood Chief Mike Zaro told NNN that drivers are refusing to stop for his officers on average once a day. "A lot of times they’re stolen cars; sometimes we don’t know what the deal is."

Law enforcement officials blame the increase in failures-to-yield to passage in 2021 of House Bill 1054, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Jesse Johnson and supported by the Democrat majority endorsed police tactics reform law that, among other things, banned high-speed pursuits except in very limited circumstances.

Johnson said in a March interview on TVW’s Inside Olympia, "I just do not believe pursuits in a 21st century policing system are needed."

Johnson recently announced not to seek re-election after crime rates soared following the passage of the legislation.

Under the legislation, police officers cannot pursue a vehicle unless there’s reasonable suspicion to believe the driver is impaired or the higher standard of probable cause to believe they’re an escaped felon or have committed a violent crime or a sex crime.

Even in those circumstance, there are restrictions on when officers can pursue a suspect vehicle and must weigh whether the person poses an "imminent threat" and whether the safety risks of the person getting away against the danger of engaging in a high-speed chase.

Democrats passed the bill following the death of George Floyd, despite Republican opposition. In 2022’s legislative session, both the Washington House and Senate passed a bill with bipartisan votes that would have amended the new pursuit law, after police said it was too restrictive. However, a final version died in the state Senate after advocates for police reform opposed the change.

Jared Nieuwenhuis, Deputy Mayor of Bellevue, WA, told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, "Cops can’t pursue criminals in Washington state, and the criminals know it."

"Vehicle thefts are up 99 percent in March 2022 compared with March of the previous year." He added that they are up "88 percent year-to-date. Between January and March of 2021, 6,692 cars were stolen in Washington."

"For that same period, in 2022, 12,569 vehicles were stolen. If current trends hold, car thefts could top 50,000 by the end of the year. There were 26,520 vehicles stolen in 2020 and 31,032 stolen in 2021."

In an op-ed for Law Enforcement Today, Nieuwenhuis wrote, "The legislature should be called back for a special session to fix the anti-public safety legislation that was enacted in 2021. Law enforcement officers must have the tools they need to keep our neighborhoods safe while maintaining the legislature’s commitment to improving police accountability."

He added, "We cannot wait another nine months for the legislature to deal with this issue. Failure to act now will continue to make our neighborhoods less safe and add to an already sizable number of victims."