New Pursuit Rules Issued by Customs and Border Protection
High-speed chases along the U.S. border with Mexico are relatively common as federal, state and local authorities routinely pursue human smugglers, drug traffickers, and other suspects. These incidents have led to dozens of deaths over recent years. Now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a new policy directive regulating the pursuits in a bid to improve public safety but still allow pursuits under certain conditions.
“The safety of officers, agents, and the public are paramount as we carry out our mission,” said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Troy Miller.
The updated directives from CBP on Emergency Driving and Vehicular Pursuits come after an extensive review. The directives are designed to ensure that pursuits are conducted “in accordance with law and in a manner that minimizes risks to the public, officers/agents, other law enforcement, and vehicle occupant.”
The new policy provides CBP personnel a framework to consider when deciding whether to embark on a pursuit of a suspect. It emphasizes a “risk-based approach” urging agents to weigh the danger to the public versus law enforcement benefit or need. It also adopts a “reasonableness” standard that is common in law enforcement.
Agents, officers, and supervisors must only “conduct pursuits based on the government interest.” That interest is determined through factors including crime severity, threat level posed by subject, whether other means are available to arrest the suspect and whether a pursuit is necessary and reasonable.
In addition, the directive urges agents to weigh risk factors once a pursuit begins. Those include the speed or erratic driving of the subject vehicle, if the subject vehicle is headed toward dense traffic areas, if weather or road conditions could impact the pursuit or if the subject vehicle appears to be overloaded and could create unsafe handling conditions.
Agents are prohibited from following a vehicle into Mexico or Canada. They are prohibited from pursuing a suspect when the “only articulable suspected violation of law is Failing to Yield for a vehicle stop.” They must also use Activated Emergency Equipment and cannot pursue when there is an occupant in the government vehicle who is not an officer/agent. They cannot use a spotlight to blind the driver of the subject vehicle.
The directive also establishes reporting requirements to improve transparency surrounding pursuits as well as accountability measures.
The directive takes effect in May 2023 to allow for several months of training. CBP also established a Pursuits branch to oversee implementation. The Pursuits branch will be part of CBP’s Law Enforcement Safety and Compliance Directorate.
The National Border Patrol Council president told GovExec that the union is “extremely upset” at the change and added that his organization was not consulted about it.
Attorney Bernardo Rafael Cruz, of the ACLU of Texas, told GovExec that vehicle chases have “occurred indiscriminately” and created unnecessary dangers for both those involved and innocent bystanders.
A tracker from the ACLU of Texas says that 93 people have died since 2010 in Border Patrol pursuits.