"The absence of accountability in any process for controlling human behavior is a systemic deficiency that clearly demonstrates to all concerned that policy, training, and supervision are really meaningless when there are no consequences for ignoring them." Donald Van Blaricom, Ret. Police Chief
Published in the Chico
Enterprise-Record
Feb. 28, 2004
Don't
tie officer's hands
In 2002, a very tragic auto crash took the life of
15-year-old Kristie Priano. This is the kind of
catastrophe all parents dread.
Priano has been in the news many
times since her death. Currently her name is being used
to advance a bill by [Senator] Sam Aanestad in the state
Legislature.
This bill would not be a fitting
memorial, but an albatross around the neck of every
police officer in the state.
When an officer sees a
suspicious vehicle that will not stop, he or she
cannot know whether that subject has just murdered
someone, been involved in a hit and run, or possibly
abducted a child whose life may be saved by an effective
pursuit.
If this law is passed and police are required to break
off pursuit with the penalty of lawsuits, untold scores
of felons will immediately know all they have to do is
speed up.
The loss of one promising child
like Kristie Priano is tragic. However, I would not wish
any child of mine remembered as a device to hamstring
police or be hailed by lawbreakers as the tool to aid
their escape.
Possibly the most egregious part
of this bill is the opening of the police agencies and
or the individual officers to punitive law suits.
[Kristie's Law still shields officer's immunity. This statement is a PR scare tactic from law enforcement.]
