VALLEJO – The Vallejo Police Department is seeking to reduce the number of crashes during police pursuits following a department data analysis that found officers engaged in a record number of pursuits last year, including dozens that ended in a crash, leading to injuries and deaths.

According to the department statistics, Vallejo police engaged in 197 pursuits in 2023, up 33% from 132 the year before. Of the pursuits last year, 41 ended in a crash and 13 of those resulted in injury. Nearly half of the time the suspect escaped, as Vallejo police either called off the pursuit or lost sight of the suspect. 

Vallejo police data shows that pursuits rose significantly in 2020 and have remained high. Vallejo police engaged in 168 pursuits in 2020 and 149 in 2021, up from 85 in 2018 and 70 in 2019. 

The department also said that one person died in a crash during a pursuit. But the data does not include a crash that killed a bystander following a police pursuit in August, as police said the pursuit was canceled prior to the crash.

The department’s first-ever report analyzing pursuit data recommends that supervisors, when considering whether to continue a pursuit, take into account several new factors, identified as the highest risk factors that result in crashes, including whether the pursuit happens at night or on the weekend and whether the suspect is speeding or driving erratically.

But the report does not recommend any specific policy changes, and the recommendations fall short of those by national policing experts and more stringent policies at other agencies.

In September, the Police Executive Research Forum and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services published a report on pursuits that recommended agencies take on more restrictive policies, such as only allowing officers to initiate a pursuit if they are chasing a suspect in a violent felony or the officer believes the driver poses a risk to public safety.

The board that drafted the report included former Vallejo police Capt. Jason Potts, who is now chief of the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety.

Vallejo’s policy, which is drafted by the police policy provider Lexipol, is much more permissive. It allows officers to initiate a pursuit “when the officer reasonably believes that a suspect, who has been given appropriate signal to stop by a law enforcement officer, is attempting to evade arrest or detention by fleeing in a vehicle” and instructs officers to weigh the severity of the suspected crime against the risks to community safety.

The department’s analysis found that most Vallejo police pursuits began following a nonviolent crime or traffic violation. Of the 197 pursuits in 2023, 55 were started because officers identified a stolen vehicle, 50 were for reckless driving, 22 were because the driver was suspected in a burglary and nine were because of a traffic violation.

Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said that the department may consider future policy changes based on the assessment. “The purpose of the report is to see what we’re doing right and what we can improve upon,” Hollis said. “Now that we've completed the report, we're analyzing it.”

The department is currently revising its use of force policies under the supervision of the state Department of Justice, but a stipulated judgment filed by the Justice Department in October makes no mention of pursuits or pursuit policy.

Following two deaths when suspects fleeing Vallejo police crashed last year, the Vallejo Sun reported in October that Vallejo police initiate more pursuits than hundreds of other agencies in California, including much larger departments, and Vallejo police pursuits frequently result in death or injury. 

Data reported to the California Highway Patrol showed that Vallejo police were in the top 20 agencies by pursuits started in both 2020 and 2021 of nearly 500 law enforcement agencies in the state. Vallejo police start more pursuits than other, much larger, nearby agencies, such as Oakland and San Francisco police.

Top 20 pursuits reported to CHP by agency

The data released by Vallejo police earlier this month shows an even higher number of pursuits than what was reported to the CHP for those years, indicating that the department may have underreported pursuits in required disclosures to the state. The CHP has not yet released statewide data for 2022 or 2023.

The Vallejo police data notes that the rise in pursuits by Vallejo police comes amid fewer officers working in the department. The department also reported a rise in use of force by officers last year and corresponding rise in liability claims, which some observers attributed to the departure of former police Chief Shawny Williams.

Vallejo police attributed the rise in pursuits in part to the use of Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology, which automatically scans license plates and checks them against law enforcement databases. The department first obtained ALPRs in 2017 and has expanded their use of the technology since.

A recent investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle found that pursuits have risen nationally since 2020. At least 3,336 people were killed in police vehicle pursuits from 2017 through 2022, including at least 1,377 people in 2020 and 2021. At least 551 of the people who died, or 27%, were bystanders, the Chronicle found.

Pursuits by Vallejo police officers drew scrutiny last year as two of them ended in crashes that killed bystanders. In October, 76-year-old Russell Hawk was killed after police attempted to stop a reckless driver, who crashed a short time later, crushing Hawk between two cars. The driver fled and evaded capture.

But Vallejo police said that for the purposes of department statistics, the death of 59-year-old Hudson Joseph Standley on Aug. 30 doesn’t count because officers canceled the pursuit before the suspect crashed.

The pursuit that led to Standley’s death was over an alleged violent offense. Police said the white Toyota Avalon that crashed into Standley’s truck at Tennessee and Tuolumne streets matched the description of one used in recent armed robberies. When officers tried to stop it, the driver sped away, ignoring traffic lights and stop signs.

The fleeing driver and pursuing Vallejo police officers reached speeds of 90 mph in 30 mph zones and weaved in and out of oncoming traffic, according to police scanner radio and witness accounts.

Police said they lost track of the Avalon about a mile and a half east on Tennessee Street. But officers located it a short time later on Springs Road near Mosswood Avenue. The officers then turned around to pursue the car, and as they approached, they saw debris and dust in the area of Springs Road and Tregaskis Avenue. The suspect ran from the car, leaving behind an injured passenger.

Heather Anderson, Standley’s sister who lives in their native Oregon, told the Sun last week that in the time since her brother’s death, she’d received few details from Vallejo police, who never reached out to her family to inform her that Standley was killed in Vallejo. 

“The police have never contacted us,” Anderson said on March 19. “I feel that because we’re not there, that they don’t think we’re important.”

Still, Anderson would call the detective in charge of the case, Jordon Patzer, in hopes of updates, but she said there were few to give, including the alleged suspect’s name because he’s a juvenile. And Anderson was told they couldn’t have any of her brother’s possessions — including the key to his storage container he shared with his business partner — until criminal proceedings were concluded.  

Vallejo police said in a press release Saturday that a detective saw the suspected driver on March 20 near Ohio and Sutter streets and patrol officers stopped his vehicle and arrested him on a warrant related to Standley’s death. 

Anderson said Patzer called her shortly after the arrest. “I honestly was so overwhelmed with relief that my brain went blank when he asked if I had any questions,” she said.