Police officers in the 16th District were involved in chasing a speeder on the lst Watch, 0100 hours (l:00 A.M.).  The chase lasted for approximately a half hour and was called off by a supervisor because the speeder became extremely reckless by running red lights and reached speeds of over 80 miles per hour.  After the chase was terminated the speeder, not hearing sirens or seeing the Mars lights or the flashing headlights of the squad cars, tucked his auto in a hiding spot, ducked down and remained there for about a half hour.  Then, in an attempt to reach his home he sped away, reached a high speed and ran a red light at Talcott and Harlem, striking my friend's undercover police vehicle, demolishing the whole front of the squad car, and then did a braking skid of 274 feet until he crashed into a light pole, finally bringing his auto to a full stop.

To the credit of the teenager who was driving the vehicle, who could have run away because he was unhurt, he instead returned to the accident scene in an attempt to render aid to the injured officer and then surrendered to the officers of the several patrol cars who responded to the accident.

They identified the auto that they had previously been chasing and it was learned that they were on a patrol division frequency band and an all-call broadcast had not been made during the course of the chase, but a description of the auto was broadcast city-wide after the chase was terminated, and therefore my friend, who was on a Detective Division frequency was unable to pick up their previous broadcasts.

A Patrol Sergeant from the 16th District who was a former traffic sergeant was able to ascertain by  measurements that the speeding auto was travelling in excess of l00 miles per hour when he struck the police vehicle.

The officer was transported to the nearest Hospital, just down the street from the accident and subsequently required a spinal fusion in order to return to full time duty after a year of recovery and rehabilitation.  Inches, seconds and most importantly, a seat belt most assuredly saved his life.  The teenager later revealed that he swerved to avoid striking the driver's compartment and at that speed was an accomplishment.  It was determined that he was a good kid who had a bad judgement night. The young man who was the speeder was not drinking and was not a fleeing felon.  He was just trying to reach home and avoid receiving a traffic ticket.  In Traffic Court, with the permission of his attorney, the officer was able to talk to the young man and give him a stern lecture regarding the ramifications of trying to outrun police vehicles.  The police officer was subsequently able to convince the Judge not to revoke the teenager's drivers license.

There DEFINITELY are rules and regulations regarding the various types of chases that police officers encounter practically every day, although the order pertaining to police chases is out-dated.  They were instituted many years ago because of the frequency of injuries and deaths to citizens and police officers in addition to the lost time that officers had to remain on the medical and their services were lost.  I recall that formulating an order to cover all possible scenarios was almost impossible and a variety of units were called upon help compose a reasonable order.  The experts from Research and Development drafted an order that placed the responsibility on the Field Lieutenant and Sector Sergeants in the District where the chase was taking place TO TERMINATE the chase if they considered in their best judgement that it was hazardous to citizens and police officers.  Because the Supervisors monitored all calls broadcast by the Communication Section, it was further itemized in the order that a specific Sergeant be assigned to make the determination if it was taking place within the Sector of his Command.  (Each District has four or five Sectors with a Sergeant and four or five patrol vehicles within the sector.  For example; the 19th District has a Sergeant with a call number of 1910, and four to six squad cars under his Command with the call numbers ranging from 1911 to 19l8.  The Lieutenant's call number ends with 00 in every District.  1400-l500-1600-1700-l800 and 1900, etc.)

You may assume that the Field Supervisors were not too happy when this order was finalized because it became their responsibility to make a determination to terminate chases without having all of the facts at their disposal.  The order was revised several times and it was finally decided that the Field Supervisor would only use the facts that they were monitoring and the danger involved in order to terminate chases.  During the early stages of the institution of this order chases were ended very quickly and for good reasons…the supervisors would be held responsible if chases were allowed to proceed that ultimately resulted in disasters.

The officers working consoles in the Communication section are officially called police dispatchers but during the discharge of their duties on the air with other officers they are called squad operators and the officers making contact with them simply call them SQUAD.  The personnel assigned to Communications are mostly dedicated street-experienced officers who render invaluable aid to the patrol officers.  

In order to give you some idea of the conversation that takes place between the dispatcher and the officers working beat cars in a District, permit me to take you on a relatively short daytime chase that took place in the 19th District.  Bear in mind that the police chase described above was extremely dangerous because it happened during the early morning hours of the first watch whereby the person being chased built up a high rate of speed due to the lack of traffic.  Traffic hour chases should be less dangerous; however statistics have revealed that more injuries and deaths occur during the daylight hours because of the volume of civilian foot and vehicle traffic.

We'll make you the passenger in the patrol car and your partner will be the driver.  You will have the responsibility of broadcasting the chase to the Communication Section and your partner will do the driving.   You should be cognizant of the fact that sometimes police chases turn into foot chases and the separation of an officer from his partner and squad car has proved to be one of the most hazardous chases.  

The 3rd Watch roll-call is over and it is now l700 hours (5:00 P.M.) and you have been assigned to your regular car, Beat Number 1912, under the supervision of a sergeant assigned to Beat 1910.  You and your partner are proceeding to the 1912 Sector which is about one fifth or one sixth of the total area of the 19th District when you observe a vehicle run a red light at Western and Addison.  Your partner makes a left turn off Western, west on Addison street and activates the siren, Mars light and alternating headlights while in pursuit of the speeding auto.  Instead of pulling over, the vehicle being pursued accelerates his speed in heavy traffic, and that constitutes a chase.

You, as the passenger of the patrol car start the broadcast:
"1912 Squad," which identifies you to the squad operator (dispatcher).  1912 is also identified by a 3" by 5" black placard with white letters prominently displayed on top of the squad car.
"Go ahead 1912, you have the air."
"Squad, we're chasing a black 2 door Olds westbound on Addison and he won't pull over. Unable to obtain the license number."
"Clear the air, 1912 has a chase going.  Revert to your alternate frequency if you have an emergency."
"1912, the street is being torn up in front of Lane Tech High and the Olds just took the non-usage lane and wiped out two barriers.  There are two occupants in the auto and driver is now weaving between cars.  He just made a high jump with his auto in the construction zone and slammed down, flattening one of his rear tires."
"19l0," (Sector Sergeant Supervisor)
"Go ahead 1910,"
"Please advise that I am monitoring this chase and will terminate if deemed necessary."
"19l0 that's a 10-4."
"Squad, 1912,  the car we are chasing just blew the light (traffic signal) at California and we have him clocked at 40."
"1912, you are entering the 17th District and they have the street blocked at Addison and Elston."
"That's a 10-4 squad but looking up ahead we think he cracked up."
"1716 Squad,"
"Go ahead 1716,"
"The car that 1912 was chasing tried to make a high speed right turn onto a side street and struck a tree."
"1716, tell 1912 to slow down, two occupants in custody.  No ambulance required."
Your chase is over but now you will have to process your prisoners AND the narcotics found in the auto.
I hope this short chase will give you some idea of how chases are instituted and terminated and the wording used between the patrol officers and the dispatcher.