Mayor bans foot chases. WTF? - REVmatch

Dan · #1 09-22-2009, 10:28 PM

http://www.njlawman.com/The-Column/0...ootpursuit.htm

WATCH the video

ibrennan · #2 09-23-2009, 10:24 AM

that video is so awesome

miss.blueberry · #3 09-23-2009, 11:41 AM

So basically, you can do anything you want there, run away after, and you're good!

Dan · #4 09-23-2009, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miss.blueberry

So basically, you can do anything you want there, run away after, and you're good!

That's what she said, and she said what she meant.

PowerLabs · #5 09-23-2009, 01:13 PM

Here is to hoping she gets robbed, the criminal runs, and the police watches him get away.

Dan · #6 09-23-2009, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PowerLabs

Here is to hoping she gets robbed, the criminal runs, and the police watches him get away.

..

No.

ibrennan · #7 09-23-2009, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PowerLabs

Here is to hoping she gets robbed, the criminal runs, and the police watches him get away.

not at all

PowerLabs · #8 09-25-2009, 03:32 PM

She changed her mind: http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1085977.html

Mayor rescinds ban on foot chases by police
By Seanna Adcox - The Associated Press

COLUMBIA -- The mayor of a small S.C. town said Thursday she's allowing her police officers to run after suspects again, three weeks after banning the pursuits.

Wellford Mayor Sallie Peake said she's revoking her Sept. 2 prohibition, even though she still prefers no foot chases, after talking with Spartanburg County prosecutor Trey Gowdy.

"They can run, jump, climb trees, tumble, whatever they want to do!" Peake told a WSPA-TV reporter, a week after chastising him for asking about the ban.
SC mayor revokes no-chase callThe mayor of a small South Carolina town says she's allowing her police officers to run after suspects again.
Wellford Mayor Sallie Peake on Thursday told WSPA-TV she's revoking her Sept. 2 ban.
She said a conversation with Spartanburg County prosecutor Trey Gowdy prompted the reversal, even though she still doesn't want foot chases.

SC mayor revokes no-chase call
SC mayor revokes no-chase callThe mayor of a small South Carolina town said Thursday she's allowing her police officers to run after suspects again, three weeks after banning the pursuits.
Wellford Mayor Sallie Peake said she's revoking her Sept. 2 prohibition, even though she still prefers no foot chases, after talking with Spartanburg County prosecutor Trey Gowdy.
"They can run, jump, climb trees, tumble, whatever they want to do!" Peake told a WSPA-TV reporter, a week after chastising him for asking about the ban and clapping her hands in mock praise that he'd found a story.

The mayor of a small South Carolina town says she banned her police officers from chasing suspects on foot after an officer was hurt running after a man.
Wellford Mayor Sallie Peake said Monday she issued the order in August after the city had to pay for an officer who missed work after chasing a "guy who had a piece of crack on him." She said a drug possession charge was not worth the cost to taxpayers. But her written order said she did "not want anyone chasing any suspects whatsoever."
The decision came after two town-issued cars were totaled within a month, although her order applies only to foot chases.

The mayor of a small South Carolina town said Monday she banned her police officers from chasing suspects after an officer suffered a foot injury while pursuing a man with drugs.
"There are to be no more foot chases when a suspect runs. I do not want anyone chasing any suspects whatsoever," Wellford Mayor Sallie Peake wrote in her ban several weeks ago.
When a WSPA-TV reporter asked her whether the policy would impede officers from stopping crime, she became defensive and chastised him before answering in mock praise.

Neither Peake nor the police chief immediately returned several messages from The Associated Press.

On Monday, the mayor of 14 years said she issued the order after a city officer suffered a foot injury while chasing a "guy who had some crack on him" and had to be out of work for several days on workers' compensation pay. She said she didn't consider the drug possession a crime, and said the town of 2,100 couldn't afford the increased insurance costs.

"There are to be no more foot chases when a suspect runs. I do not want anyone chasing any suspects whatsoever," read the two-sentence memo.

Gowdy sent a letter Wednesday to state Attorney General Henry McMaster, asking for an opinion on whether the policy violates officers' duties to uphold the law.

The policy "is likely to encourage resisting arrest, fleeing from law enforcement, and in my judgment puts officers at more risk than if they were able to pursue fleeing felons," he wrote in the letter.

Peake received a copy, along with a separate letter asking her to rescind the policy. If workers' compensation policy rates were the concern, Gowdy said, he and Sheriff Chuck Wright would happily help the town raise the money to fully cover the officers.