Over the last six months, the WCPO I-team has collected records from 40 different police departments and reviewed thousands of disciplinary cases involving officers. Our motives are simple: We want to make sure the people who protect us and enforce our laws are worthy of the high level of trust the public gives them. Read more about this project and why we are doing it here.
SHARONVILLE, Ohio -- Cynthia Kennedy-Edwards, of Liberty Township, was driving along Sharon Road on July 4, 2015, when a speeding vehicle slammed into her car.
"It was very scary for me," Kennedy-Edwards said in an interview with the WCPO I-Team. "I did see a car coming very fast, and then I saw police lights behind it. I saw them coming, and I tried to shift back, but the car wouldn't move, and he came so fast that I couldn't get the car in gear.
"It was very traumatic."
According to a Sharonville police officer’s report, the crash marked the end of a two-and-a-half minute high-speed chase along Interstate 75 around 6:30 p.m. The chase began after an officer observed then 33-year-old Jeremy Baker operating his vehicle at speeds approaching 120 miles per hour.
The I-Team reviewed records from 40 police departments serving the Tri-State, focusing on the agencies in seven metro area counties in Ohio and Kentucky. Reporters studied thousands of incidents involving police in large and small law enforcement agencies to see how police officers are held accountable.
We weren't sure what we would find when we began collecting these records, but our goal was making sure the public was aware of how law enforcement agencies handle discipline.
RELATED: I-Team investigates how Tri-State police departments discipline officers who break the law
Those records showed that guidelines for high-speed pursuits of suspects can be broad and sometimes inconsistent across jurisdictions.
I-Team reporters also found that even when a department has a policy against chasing suspects at high speeds, some departments do not consistently discipline offending officers.
It’s a regional issue that Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said needs fixing.
"I think we should all be on the same page, not only in pursuits, but in most of the things we do," he told WCPO. "It's certainly something that I'm willing to be a part of and even take the leadership on to see if we can have a more uniform policy in the region."
'Consistent with policy'?
Kennedy-Edwards, her passenger, and Baker recovered from their injuries, but it could have been a far more tragic story: Law enforcement leaders view emergency vehicular pursuits as a huge safety threat.
"I think vehicle pursuits are one of the most dangerous activities that our officers engage in," Isaac told the I-Team. "Not only for themselves, but for the community at large."
Tulsa Police Maj. Travis Yates, who runs a national pursuit-training academy, told USA Today the same thing: “A pursuit is probably the most unique and dangerous job law enforcement can do.
“We’re not taking it seriously enough because we think that one day of training that an officer may have gotten in their academy is going to take effect 10 years later when a pursuit begins,” he said. “Most officers will never fire their firearms ever, but we train one to four times a year” on how to fire guns.
Police ultimately charged Baker with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, failure to control a vehicle and excessive speed, among other charges.
None of the three officers involved in the chase faced any sort of disciplinary action.
Sharonville PD Vehicle Pursuit Report 7.4.15 by WCPO Web Team on Scribd
The internal review documents above include notes indicating the officers were traveling at speeds above 100 miles per hour and weaving through traffic while pursuing Baker. It also indicates an officer ran a red light at more than 50 miles per hour, and that one of the squad cars involved was in pursuit with its emergency lights on, but not its siren.
When it comes to speed, the Sharonville Police Department does not specify a certain speed at which pursuing officers need to stand down. The policy reads:
“When a motor vehicle pursuit exposes any officer, member of the public or suspect to unnecessary risk, then the pursuit is inconsistent with the policy of the Sharonville Police Department and should be terminated.”
The policy also specifies that officers in a pursuit must come to “a controlled slow/stop before proceeding under a red light,” but does not further define the term “controlled slow/stop.” As for the lights and siren -- they’re a must.
Of the 30 police pursuit policies WCPO obtained, the most common criteria dictating officers’ best practices are:
- Nature of suspected offense
- Public and/or traffic in the vicinity
- Weather and road conditions
- Speed of the pursuit
- Crossing into other jurisdictions
- Time of day
- Vehicle equipment (lights, sirens, markings, etc.)
According to Sharonville Police Lt. Jim Nesbit, the review of Baker’s pursuit found nothing that didn’t fit departmental policy.
“In the review of the pursuits, as I understand it, (the officers’ actions) were found consistent with policy that was in place at the time," Nesbit told the I-Team.
The crash still haunting Kennedy-Edwards was one of the eight pursuits involving Sharonville officers in 2015. In half of those pursuits, Sharonville officers hit speeds of at least 110 miles per hour. Five of those eight pursuits ended in crashes.
Out of those crashes, the Sharonville department hasn't disciplined any officers involved in pursuits during the last three years, WCPO’s research indicates.
Across the Tri-State, law enforcement agencies have 44 pursuit policy violations on record since 2013. Discipline ranged from a verbal warning to additional training to -- in rare instances -- suspension.
Some cases involved officers speeding without their lights and sirens activated, or failing to end a pursuit when they were ordered to do so. In other cases, supervisors got in trouble because they didn't intervene when there was was a pursuit violation under their command. And sometimes, officers put their own lives at risk by not wearing a seat belt during a high-speed chase, according to police documents.
One case involved a Butler County dispatcher who "froze-up" when a deputy went on a pursuit; other dispatchers had to take over.
Of the 44 reported policy violations, here’s a breakdown of the disciplinary measures taken:
Those violations came from these jurisdictions:
- Blue Ash PD
- Butler County Sheriff's Office
- Cincinnati PD
- Delhi Township PD
- Erlanger PD
- Fairfield PD
- Fort Wright PD
- Hamilton County Sheriff's Office
- Hamilton PD
- Lebanon PD
- Madeira PD
- Middletown PD
- Norwood PD
- Springdale PD
- Taylor Mill PD
- Warren County Sheriff's Office
'Corrective measures'
Nesbit stressed the importance of officers' discretion and decision-making in helping avoid these chase scenarios.
"Their good judgment has to come into play when they are in the field," he said. "Our officers have exhibited good judgment."
But even in Sharonville’s one pursuit so far this year, an officer drove more than 100 miles per hour on wet pavement. The detailed review noted excessive speed and wet road conditions, but the officer still wasn't disciplined.
Instead, the officer went through what Nesbit called "corrective measures."
"Corrective measures were taken to make sure that his decision-making was consistent with our policy and our best practices placing public safety as the number one priority," Nesbit said.
Those corrective measures did not include a written reprimand or a suspension, nor was the incident recorded as a violation.
Sharonville PD has since revised its policies regarding vehicle pursuits and undid a requirement that officers always pursue if the driver is a felony suspect, even across state lines.
Several police chiefs told the I-Team that inconsistent discipline reflects the inconsistent expectations of officers in pursuits: Some departments never pursue. Some only pursue if the subject is suspected on a felony charge. Some pursue for something as minor as a traffic violation. Some have restrictions on weather or road conditions.
Some have speed limits. Some don't.
Another common phrase in police pursuit policies: "per the officer’s judgment."
Having broad language in policy makes it difficult to enforce and discipline violating officers, said Phil Stinson, associate professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University. Stinson has researched police practices for decades, and said some pursuit policies are strict, while others allow considerable leeway for officers.
"If there’s no written policy or if the policy is very vague, you’re not going to have much in the way of discipline,” Stinson told the I-Team.
Pursuits' lasting impact
For Kennedy-Edwards, just being in a car still gives her anxiety, two years after the crash.
"I get chest pains sometimes," she told the I-Team. "It's caused a lot of emotional stress for me."
Kennedy-Edwards is part of the roughly 30 percent of people involved in police pursuit collisions nationwide who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which says hundreds of Americans die each year in police pursuits.
Meantime, she took the I-Team to the scene of her crash hoping to convince police to slow down and reconsider the urge to race to justice.
"I have, I guess you could say, a little post-traumatic stress from being hit," she said. "There's other means of pursuing an individual rather than a high-speed pursuit and endangering others."
WCPO Web Editor Joe Rosemeyer and freelance journalists Laura Consolo, Kevin Eigelbach, Hannah Hagedorn and Roxanna Swift, contributed to this report.