BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) deputies responded to a report of vehicle theft in the 2300 block of Nulle Road about 1am on Saturday, April 23rd.
According to an email from WCSO Spokesperson Deb Slater, it was determined a suspect had entered and stolen items from inside the residence and then left in a vehicle that had been parked in the garage. This was done while the residents inside were sleeping.
While deputies were enroute to the call, Bellingham Police Department officers reported having located the stolen car in South Bellingham and attempted to pull it over. Instead of stopping, it fled at a high speed. Slater said that due to legislation enacted into law in last year, law enforcement personnel are not able to pursue people fleeing in vehicles for crimes of either vehicle theft or residential burglary. As a result, the vehicle was not pursued.
WCSO is continuing their investigation.
That is total BS! We can thank Inslee and Ferguson for this crap! The bad guy’s have more protection now than you and I. Remember this come voting time.
One of the reasons for the law that prevents some high-speed chases is that innocent bystanders and police officers or sometimes being injured or killed in such pursuits …so you have to decide whether it’s better to secure your home and garage to prevent theft rather than expecting the police to race around the county putting other people at risk because you weren’t careful enough.https://crosscut.com/politics/2022/02/new-wa-police-accountability-laws-likely-see-change
Yeah that makes sense. We pay taxes to pay the wages of those, who’s job is to go after the bad guys. But now if the bad guy doesn’t feel like giving up he doesn’t have to, and we are expected to agree with this? This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.
So instead of tailing a suspect until able to safely interact with them, they cock it up and blame a law passed to protect innocents from the very danger they would rather get up to during a high speed pursuit.
A civil suit on the person who made this blunder should encourage other officers to act a little more wisely. For a bunch of loose cannon civil servants, I’m not surprised to hear them bellyache about having to toe some lines.