What Is a No-Chase Policy?

Updated August 2026

A no-chase policy is a written rule adopted by a police department — not a state law — that limits when its officers may pursue a fleeing vehicle. A typical policy allows pursuit only for serious or violent offenses, requires officers to weigh the risk to the public against the need for an immediate arrest, and lets a supervisor terminate the chase at any time. Very few departments ban chases entirely; "restrictive pursuit policy" is the accurate name for most of what gets called "no-chase."

Policy vs. law: why the difference matters

A state statute binds every officer in the state and can create rights or defenses in court. A department policy binds only that department's officers, can change without any vote, and violating it is an internal discipline matter — not automatically a crime or a tort. When you read that a state "has a no-chase law," check which one is actually meant. In most states, the honest answer is: no statewide law, department policy decides.

What a typical pursuit policy contains

• Initiation criteria — which offenses justify starting a chase. Restrictive policies say violent felonies only; permissive ones allow any offense including traffic violations.
• The balancing test — the officer must continuously weigh the danger of the pursuit against the seriousness of the offense and the need for immediate capture.
• Termination rules — speeds, traffic density, weather, school zones, or a supervisor's order that end the chase.
• Tactics — whether PIT maneuvers, spike strips, roadblocks, or boxing-in are allowed and at what speeds.
• Supervision and reporting — supervisor notification, and an after-action review of every pursuit.

Who writes them, and why they got stricter

Each agency's chief or the city writes the policy, often following model policies from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) or IACP. The trend since the 2010s has been restriction, driven by data: police pursuits kill hundreds of people a year in the US, and a large share of the dead are passengers and bystanders, not the fleeing driver — see our statistics page for the numbers. A few states went further and wrote restrictions into statute; Washington and DC are the leading examples, and both partially rolled their rules back in 2024 after political backlash.

Does a no-chase policy protect someone who flees?

No, on three counts. Fleeing is a separate crime in every state — commonly a felony once speed becomes dangerous. The policy can change or be overridden in the moment; officers pursue when the criteria are met. And departments increasingly end chases with technology instead: plate readers, aircraft, GPS tagging, and a warrant served later. The policy governs the officer's conduct, not the fleeing driver's liability.

Does violating a pursuit policy create liability?

Sometimes. If a chase injures a bystander and the officers ignored their own policy, that violation becomes evidence in a negligence claim — and in states like California, an agency's immunity actually depends on having adopted and trained on a compliant policy (Vehicle Code § 17004.7). The details are state-specific: see who pays when a police chase causes a crash.