In what could be one of the biggest mistakes by a police force, the RCMP confirmed that they will no longer chase suspects fleeing in stolen vehicles in Alberta. The new pursuit policy has been in place for at least two months already, but it has not been made public until now. Now, I’m not saying the policy is a mistake but publically disclosing it is. Why did the RCMP reveal their hand? It would have been perfectly fine to adopt this new policy while keeping it under wraps.

With this new knowledge of the RCMP’s vehicle pursuit policy, car thieves may now feel they can take a car for a quick joyride without fear of being pursued on the rural highways or in smaller towns where the RCMP patrol.

“Our new policy now discourages pursuing a stolen vehicle, just for the sole purpose that it’s stolen,” he said, adding the new policy won’t give drivers of stolen cars a free pass.

“Obviously if somebody is in a stolen vehicle and is impaired or has been involved in other criminal activity, then there’s no strict prohibition from engaging or not engaging, there’s all kinds of factors that will come into play.

“All pursuit policies have a balance or risk assessment portion so our members can have the policies and tools in place so they can judge if something is getting way too risky, as far as public safety goes, for the benefits of criminal apprehension.”

When I first read this I did a little poking around and found that there were many cases of RCMP police chases ending badly in BC but not so many in Alberta. Perhaps it is because the RCMP patrols in the Greater Vancouver Area. I wonder why the RCMP chose Alberta as the testing grounds for this new vehicle pursuit policy?

The Calgary Police Service has a similar pursuit policy but they also have the advantage of patrolling a much smaller area. Oh, and they also have two helicopters that can be called in to assist in a pursuit if it is available. The RCMP will be evaluating the success of the new pursuit policy and if successful will be deploying it in other regions.