ACLU CHIDES LAPD : CHANGES REQUESTED IN PURSUIT POLICIES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The American Civil Liberties Union called Friday for the LAPD to quit chasing motorists solely because of traffic violations until a safer pursuit policy can be developed.

In a letter to Police Chief Willie L. Williams and Police Commission President Deirdre Hill, leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California also asked that more restrictions be placed on pursuits and that post-pursuit activity be better monitored.

In their letter to Williams and Hill, the ACLU leaders said a study done by their group found serious problems with the way officers in the Los Angeles Police Department pursue fleeing suspects.

``Among the conclusions in this report, we find that the LAPD has experienced strikingly high rates of officer, suspect and bystander injuries, and the LAPD officers engage in disproportionately high rates of pursuit,'' said the letter, which was written by regional ACLU executive director Ramona Ripston and director Allan Parachini.

The two said that more than 83 percent of officers and nearly 50 percent of suspects who are hurt suffer the injuries after the pursuit.

Williams has directed his staff to analyze the report in the next few days but was not planning any immediate action to suspend the pursuit policy, said Capt. Robert Ruchhoft, a department spokesman.

``The chief is certainly not going to be jumping up and changing it today without thoroughly digesting this report first,'' Ruchhoft said.

Police Commission representatives also said they wanted to review the report, released Friday.

The ACLU report looked at 12 law enforcement agencies in Southern California and 6,000 pursuits, which resulted in 1,900 injuries and 50 deaths. The report found that the number of LAPD pursuits has increased in the past three years, despite department efforts to better manage them.

The ACLU leaders called for the LAPD to commence an immediate review of its pursuit policies and to suspend the current rules, putting in their place on an interim basis the Orange County policy prohibiting pursuits solely for traffic infractions.

Under such a policy, if an officer saw someone running a red light, the officer would try to pull the suspect over.

``But if all the officer has is a traffic infraction, and the suspect bails, there's no pursuit,'' Parachini said.

In addition to reviewing the current policy, the ACLU asked for an investigation of why the LAPD has an ``extraordinarily high'' rate of officer and suspect injuries after pursuits.

``In view of the very high toll of fatalities and injuries experienced by the LAPD, this expedited review should be completed as quickly as possible,'' the letter states.