The Texas Tribune and the San Antonio Express News teamed up to analyze nearly 5,000 high-speed chases by DPS troopers. "Statewide, DPS chases resulted in 1,300 accidents, 780 injuries to troopers, other officers, suspects and bystanders, 28 deaths and an estimated $8.4 million in property damage in the last five years." What's more, "Nearly 13 percent of the chases — 656 — happened in Hidalgo County. Of the 10 counties with the most chases, five were counties along the Texas-Mexico border."
One notable observation: "The analysis also reveals that troopers use aggressive pursuit tactics — including firing guns and setting up roadblocks — that many other law enforcement agencies prohibit. One expert says that DPS policies allow troopers to take too many risks, endangering the lives of officers and bystanders. 'They’re crazy,' says Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina, who has studied pursuits at police departments across the country."
Another remarkable tidbit: "The pursuits didn’t always end with fleeing motorists in handcuffs, though. The suspects in about 40 percent of chases in Hidalgo County escaped on foot — or swam away to Mexico — eluding officers and often leaving behind loads of marijuana and narcotics in vehicles mangled in accidents and sometimes submerged in the Rio Grande. Statewide, more than 30 percent of all DPS chases ended with the suspect eluding officers on foot. Fewer than a quarter of all suspects, both statewide and in Hidalgo County, stopped and surrendered."
I would not have guessed that the number of chases ending with the suspect successfully eluding troopers on foot would have been so high, nor that the proportion who stop and surrender would be so low.
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12 comments:
5,000 chases, 1,300 crashes, 780 injuries. That's a lot of crashes and injuries. And I don't attribute it to bad driving or inadequate training, I attribute it to the lack of ANY meaningful pursuit policy at DPS. I tell Troopers, "this is why God gave you radios and helicopters." But this bloodhound attitude is trained into them, and nothing I say matters much.
I warn Troopers, with little effect, that the same judges who will contort the law every which way to grant them qualified immunity in a shooting case, will often times not lift a finger to help them in a pursuit-injury-or-death case. The taxpayers often have to pay on those.
So why so many pursuits in Ector County? It seems like an anamoly when compared to the surrounding counties.
Gotta move that liberal dope. Pesky Troopers are always in the way.
And, on the border, it is about dope, cartels, and trafficking illegals. I know a member of one of the DPS helicopter teams stationed in one of the border counties, and he tells me that most of the pursuits end up in full blown shootouts with cartel members making a dope run. So much so, that the helicopter crews are being issued larger caliber rifles than the standard 5.56mm.
Why so many getting away? Sometimes, just sometimes, it could be a setup to have the load seized yet allowing the informant to "escape". :~)
Please turn a blind eye to the "public nuisance" issues occuring in the vicinity of and not directly related to the meager geographical "perception" of the sepratation of the United States of America and a third world country with absolutely no governing responsibility or public order. This is merely media bias against Mexico.
Didn't something like this occur in Panama? Wait, that was one guy. My bad.
Scott,
There is a community of about 30-40,000 outside the city limits of Odessa that is rightly called West Odessa inside of Ector County. Ever read the book Friday Night Lights well it is true. People raise their families in Midland and raise HELL in Odessa. West Odessa has approx. 20 bars on FM 1936 in a 5 mile streach. Lots of DWI arrest and crashes, along with the blue colar oil field hell raising mentality. Throw in drugs, horse racing, cock fighting and dog fighting and the result is a lot of car chases. I am a officer in a neighboring county and I have to tip my hat to those Ector County Troopers they work their butts off. The same cannot be said for the Ector County Sheriffs Office hence part of the problem with the lawless atmosphere in West Odessa. There is only so much a dozen trooper can do. Also the Odessa Police Dept works there butts off keeping the crazies outside the city limits.
Did anyone see the special on Fox News on Nov. 18th concerning the lawless border that Obama wants us citizens to believe is secure. A reporter was riding shotgun in a DPS helicopter during a pursuit right there in Misson Texas on the border. The pilot even pointed out duck blinds on the Mexico side of the border where the drug runners watch and wait for the border patrol the pass by before crossing the river which looked more like a stream than a river. Just like the others have stated we live next to a third world country and no one wants to admit it. The problem is DPS is doing the Feds job and us Texans are paying for it in taxes and losses.
Hey Grits, by the way how come you didn't have a piece on your blog concerning the Fox News report. It was on several times during the day and was on Greta in the evening. It concerned DPS and the fact that they are doing the Feds job on the border using our Texas tax dollars. Please say you do watch Fox News even though you live in Austin, at least sometimes, in my opinion they have the best converage concerning the border.
11:23/28, As far as "the lawless border that Obama wants us citizens to believe is secure," I hope you're aware that Texas border counties have among the lowest crime rates in the state. All the headlines are about Mexican border towns across the river, but check crime rates for El Paso, Laredo, Del Rio, etc., and I'll bet they're lower than where you live.
Also, DPS is NOT doing the feds' job, in that they don't participate in immigration enforcement. IMO going after drug runners within Texas' borders IS, in fact, precisely their job.
Incarceration numbers and traffic ticket rates prove that Smith County is the most criminal and lawless of any in Texas.
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