A March 22 wrong-way crash resulting in multiple injuries is being cited by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office as another example of negligence from state government toward the needs of police.

Sheriff John Gese said April 3 that a suspect driving a stolen pickup was spotted several times by law enforcement as he sped through three local counties, but due to pursuit laws, the suspect was able to continue on, eventually leading to the wreck.

It’s a common frustration Gese and fellow law enforcement officers have experienced and spoken out about since the change in the pursuit laws.

“Among other impacts, the pursuit law enacted in 2021 sends the message to those who will steal cars and drive recklessly and dangerously that they can do so with little fear of being caught,” he said. “The pursuit law provides no deterrent to this crime and others.”

This incident ended with a collision with an SUV while headed the wrong way on Highway 16, causing serious injuries to one occupant and minor injuries to the other, the State Patrol reported. The suspect was able to flee, and traffic was backed up for hours.

Gese said events leading up to the final crash and the suspect’s escape were assisted largely by the law’s limitations against police, something he said needs to change. “Together with many other local law enforcement leaders, community members, organizations, business leaders and elected officials, we are asking our state legislature to address this problem by passing necessary and meaningful modifications to the police pursuit laws,” he said.

The Washington State Sheriff’s Association published a statement March 31 concerning the law. It calls out the legislature for failing to fix “unreasonable restrictions.”

“This experimental law took discretion and judgment away from our communities’ law enforcers,” the statement says. “It tried to eliminate the risks of vehicle pursuits by forbidding them entirely, except in very specific and prescribed cases, completely removing the offender from the equation of responsibility.”

The statement goes on to say the results of the adjusted law were easy to see coming, that the law disregards restrictions on vehicle pursuits implemented by police themselves and that law enforcement is able to understand legal pursuits because only they have conducted them. “The concrete results of Washington’s current pursuit law are intolerable, and its unbalanced permission of lawlessness offends the moral sense of our communities,” the statement says.