The Honolulu Police Department is reviewing its policy managing car chases after a recent high-speed pursuit in which three officers allegedly chased a carload of beach partiers until they crashed and police fled the scene.

The Sept. 12 incident on the Leeward Coast resulted in a lawsuit and the three District 8 patrol officers who were involved had their police powers taken away while under criminal and administrative investigation. A 14-year-old boy was temporarily paralyzed for weeks after the crash and the driver was put on life support.

Interim Chief Rade Vanic told the Honolulu Police Commission on Wednesday that within the last month, an in-house training video was produced and sent to every officer for mandatory review. The video reiterates the current policy, common misconceptions and expectations for compliance. It also reviews what aspects of the policy officers have and have not been following to date.

Police pursuit training is included in the annual recall training for all officers.

Vanic did not mention specific incidents as a motivation for the review and said HPD continually looks at all policies to stay current and update officer training.

The chief addressed criticism that HPD’s Motor Vehicle Pursuits policy 4.01 Opens in a new tab did not conform to standards outlined in a 2019 study Opens in a new tab by the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Law Enforcement Policy Center. He pointed out that the IACP did not intend the document to serve as a national standard. The recommendations are a tool for departments to consider along with collective bargaining agreements and the realities of policing in different jurisdictions, Vanic said.

“Our policy is not loose and very much in line with the IACP recommendation,” he told commissioners. “We are currently reviewing our policy to determine if changes are needed based on current needs and community expectations.”

Vanic asked HPD’s IT department to analyze pursuit data to help the policy review process.

The IACP outlines four separate police pursuit policies embraced by departments. A discretionary policy allows officers to decide when to engage and when to stop a chase. Permitted policies require a supervisor to review and approve a chase. Restricted policies permit pursuits only in certain situations. And some departments ban officers from going after suspects on the road.

HPD’s policy is discretionary and permitted, Vanic said. Fifty-seven percent of police departments that employ discretionary policies had an average of 17 pursuits per 100 officers employed, said Vanic, citing a Bureau of Justice Statistics study highlighted by the IACP.

HPD officers engaged in 41 pursuits in 2020, or about three per 100 officers employed.

“Based on our current policy, it shows that we are well under (the national average),” he said.

Commissioner Doug Chin thanked Vanic for any “constructive perspective” the department could apply to the policy as it currently exists. He urged HPD’s leadership team not to rely too heavily on IACP’s standards.

“It implies you are simply satisfied with the status quo that exists for the entire country and not what is going to work here in Hawaii,” Chin said. “It (police pursuits) has become an issue and caused lawsuits to be filed against the city.”

Vanic said all possible policy revisions are on the table when asked by commissioner Richard Parry if he was considering banning car chases by officers.

“I wouldn’t completely not consider it,” Vanic said. “There are issues with completely prohibiting pursuits.”

He also told commissioners that HPD implemented a conflict-of-interest policy that went into effect Nov. 5. HPD policy 2.74 Opens in a new tab states that officers “shall be attentive to and held accountable for disclosing known relationships (e.g., familial, friendship, financial/business association, etc.) with anyone involved in a case to which they are assigned.”

“When officers become aware of a relationship they have with someone who is involved in a case to which they have been assigned, they shall immediately notify their direct supervisor with a description of the relationship,” the policy states.

The new measure was put together in collaboration with the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers.