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Pictures & names of — and tributes to — blameless victims of this crime.

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Police pursuit crashes are
NOT CAR ACCIDENTS!


Kristie's Law

Deadly Pursuit

Kristie's Law is a proposed measure first introduced to the California state legislature in 2003. It directly and pro-actively addresses safety standards to minimize the risk relating to police vehicular pursuits for the public and peace officers. Kristie's Law will create standards to ensure police pursuits are conducted in a response to an immediate threat to life or a violent felony. Another life-saving factor is to require officers to follow their own agency's pursuit policy.

California State Senator Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley is the author of Kristie's Law.

Worldwide, advocates for Kristie's Law believe in law and order. People who break the law, no matter what the crime, need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Advocates believe the penalty for fleeing and eluding should be mandatory prison time.

Faces from the 3,000+
All Innocent — All Killed in Police Pursuits


Brandon Harper, Halley Simone Lee, Sisters Christina & Jacqueline Becker, Steven Aveles

Kristie's Law works with a national organization, Voices Insisting on PursuitSAFETY. Candy Priano, Kristie's mother, and other supporters founded PursuitSAFETY

PursuitSAFETY is working to save lives: innocent lives and the lives of our peace officers. Learn the facts at PursuitSAFETY.

Time is NOT on our side:
Deaths by Pursuit climb

The latest national report reveals death by pursuit in 2006 was the highest in history. (The 2007 report will be available in about eight months.)

1. Pursuit fatalities climbed to a reported 404 deaths in 2006; 133 were innocent third parties. This figure does not include children or unsuspecting passengers who were in the fleeing car and were killed.

2. Once again, California leads the nation with 50 pursuit deaths in 2006 - after reporting 30 fatalities in 2004 and 38 deaths in 2005.

3. Texas was behind California with 39 deaths and Arizona reported 28 deaths.



Please read this article in "The Police Chief," The Professional Voice of Law Enforcement, published an article with this quote: "Abandoning the pursuit does not mean the officer stops apprehension efforts; rather, the officer initiates other resources to bring about the apprehension."
—Lt. John Specht, Hillsboro, Oregon, PD

California back in the lead

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's fatalities reports on police chases show the following figures for California:
51 deaths in 2003
30 deaths in 2004 (Kristie’s Law is in the news, deaths are down)
38 deaths in 2005 (Kristie’s Law is in the news from January to June, as law enforcement's measure moves forward)
50 deaths in 2006 (Law enforcement's law signed Oct. 4, 2005, and in 2006,
California once again leads the nation in pursuit deaths using a per capita formula.)

Split-Second decisions

"An officer's split-second decision should not be whether to chase or not chase, but rather to set into motion those resources that will catch violators."
--Nora Profit
PursuitSAFETY Advisory Board Member


Archived Viewpoints

Contact Candy Priano,
an advocate for restricting police pursuits


kristies-law@sbcglobal.net
1828 Almendia Drive

Chico, CA 95926

530-343-9754

Mark, Candy, Steve and Kristie
back home in Valparaiso, Indiana.
The magical summer of 1993
.