• A police car in pursuit of another vehicle at high speeds often leads to deadly consequences.police car speed, toy model car, chase criminal image by alma_sacra from Fotolia.com
  
  There isn't a single measure of what makes a police department "conservative." Certainly, one measure is the exercise of police restraint balanced against the immediate need to apprehend a suspect when considering the safety of the general public. It's difficult to distill evaluation to a single criteria, but perhaps the most telling trait of a department's conservative bent is its policy on high speed chases--the importance of apprehending a suspect versus public safety. According to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, between 1993 and 2003, 3,877 people were killed during chases. Of those, nearly one-third--1,251--were not part of the pursuit, according to the administration. It would seem that a police department's high-speed chase policies might be a fair barometer in determining conservative police practices.
  
  

Leading the Way

• Orlando, Florida, instituted a policy in 2004 that made more restrictive an already conservative pursuit policy in cases where there is no immediate threat of harm to the general public. The policy prohibits pursuit when a fleeing vehicle does not stop. There are exceptions if the driver is suspected of committing one of 11 felonies. These include murder, manslaughter, rape and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
  
  What makes Orlando's policy more conservative than most is that it requires officers to turn off their lights, turn around and drive in the opposite direction when a vehicle fails to stop. According to the Orlando Police Department, there has been no significant statistical rise in the number of violent crimes in the city since the policy was instituted.
  
  

Scottsdale and Phoenix Police Departments

• The Scottsdale, Arizona, Police Department's pursuit policy allows chases involving "emergency driving" when a fleeing suspect is believed to have been involved in "a violent or dangerous felony or when an immediate and articulable threat to human life exists." The Phoenix Police Department allows pursuit only in cases where the suspect is a known violent felon, according to a study commissioned by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. While neither department's policy requires the police chase lights be turned off and the officer turn the vehicle around, it comes as close to Orlando's policy as any other department.
  
  

Baltimore and Memphis Police Departments

• The Baltimore, Maryland, and Memphis, Tennessee Police Departments follow similar policy guidelines as those in Scottsdale and Phoenix. Those departments permit police pursuit only when the suspected driver is a known violent felon. The policy is less restrictive then those in their Arizona counterparts, but eliminates many chases in which the discretion of pursuit is left to the subjective standards of a police officer.
  
  

Departments of Note

• Despite the highly publicized and oft-televised police chases in Los Angeles, the police department is one of a number that have eliminated high-speed chases based on traffic infractions. Others include San Antonio, TX; Detroit; Boston; San Jose, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Columbus, OH; Austin, TX, and Kansas City, MO.