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The Los Angeles Police Department says officers were involved in pursuit of 45% of the cars last year, with about a third of them crashing.
Of these shipwrecks, the percentage of injuries to innocent drivers or pedestrians has increased by around 28%, reported 89 in 2024 in 2023, according to new data created by the department.
In 2024, three people who were not involved in the pursuit were killed in 2024. This includes a woman who was hit by a driver running away from a police officer on Mason Avenue, Winnetka in November 2024.
In the first five weeks of 2025, LAPD said executives were involved in 79 trackings, or nearly 16 per week cuts in 2024, reporting that only four of the car trackings this year resulted in injuries.
“The department will continue to maintain effective law enforcement activities while reviewing tracking trends, strengthening training efforts, and assessing the effectiveness of tracking policies to minimize risk,” Deputy Director Don Graham wrote in a statement prepared to the Police Commission.
In April 2023, the commissioner began debating whether additional restrictions were required for the cases and types of investigations where pursuits were allowed, after reviews of over 4,000 tracking between 2018 and 2023 showed that around 25% had ended due to the cause of injuries.
“I think what we’re struggling with is where we draw the lines,” said former committee chair William J. Briggs Jr. in 2023.
“It’s like a moral dilemma for me. It’s like we need to pursue a stolen vehicle if it leads to some tragedy, but again, it’s lawless, it’s right,” asked Commissioner Maria Lou Carlanche at the same meeting.
The most recent data shows that despite the increase in the number of trackings in 2024, they have been found to have started or continued to violate policies or procedures in 2024, but it was not clear that all of the 2024 cases had been fully awarded at the time the report was prepared.
Graham wrote that enforcing departmental rules for tracking remains a focus and that “continuous accountability measures are required to ensure officers adhere to established tracking protocols.”
LAPD accounts for more than 66% of the reasons stolen cars, reckless driving, driving and driving under the influence began in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
In November 2024, Chief Jim McDonnell said it was accepting a new assessment of the department’s tracking rules, saying more pursuits were being cancelled earlier due to risk than before.
“At the end of the day, it’s a balance and we’re trying to make sure people don’t give free passes to people to those who decide to run,” McDonnell told NBCLA.
“But at the same time, we know that potential consequences can be very tragic, so be as wise and careful as possible.”
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