In 2023, the Auburn Police Department pursued 17 fleeing vehicles, a small number owing to a state requirement that restricted officers’ ability to pursue escaping vehicles whose occupants were suspected of lesser crimes like car theft.

Police everywhere chafed under the restrictions.

But in June 2024, Initiative 2113 became law as the state Legislature relaxed the requirement — restoring to police the autonomy to pursue fleeing vehicles for less violent offenses such as car thefts. The state, however, continues to mandate that police constantly weigh the danger to the public against the danger presented by a suspect escaping.

As might have been expected, when the state took the cuffs off, the number of police pursuits jumped.

“We had a significant statistical increase in the number of pursuits in 2024 (52) as they increased by 205 percent,” Auburn Police Investigations Cmdr. Todd Byers told the Auburn City Council at a study session on April 28. “So yes, there were more … there was a jump right after June when the initiative was enacted.”

Police Chief Mark Caillier and Commander Shaun Feero joined Byers to present several police reports.

Most of the pursuits (14) were in August, and July and September recorded seven each.

Statistically, Byers said, most police pursuits occur between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., the hours between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. showing the highest frequency, followed by 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. This continued in 2024, with 28 of the 52 pursuits occurring between those hours.

“In the year before this, a felony suspect was 100 percent of why we initiated pursuits,” Byers said, noting that 50 percent of the pursuits in 2024 were related to stolen vehicles. “So, the reason we were pursuing these cars changed significantly with the legislative change.”

In 2024, Byers said, Auburn officers pursued suspects for 47.45 miles compared to 33.3 miles in 2023, averaging out to .91 miles for the 52 pursuits in 2024 compared to the 17 in 2023, which averaged 1.96 miles.

“Ever since I’ve been here, my thought was to try and end these as soon as possible, and it was hard… because historically as the pursuit gets longer, it gets more dangerous. So, we were getting to two miles during these pursuits. That’s a long way to chase somebody at 70 to 80 miles per hour,” Byers said.

“But if you think about it,” Byers continued, “we were chasing them for two miles because in 2023, they were all felony suspects. It wasn’t that we were chasing them because it was such a fun thing to do. It’s because they were the genuine bad guys, and we were trying to get them.”

Elsewhere, the reports showed that in comparison to 2023, the APD reported 64,000 Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) calls from people asking for an officer response.

Caillier said the APD, which usually looks at a five-year period of its call volume, has seen significant decreases in the last five years, down to the 64,000 referred to above.

“That’s a good sign for us,” Caillier said. “I think it bears out in some of the other numbers we’re seeing. Of the calls for service, we had 17,864 case reports that came out of those. We referred just under 5,000 cases that were felonies to (King County), the rest (were) misdemeanors to our local court. And then the vast majority of those cases will likely be non-criminal reports that don’t get filed with the prosecutor, but we document whatever the incident may be.”

Of those 64,000 calls for service, Feero said, eight led to internal investigations and six involved actual misconduct committed by a total of 10 employees. Given the greater call volume in recent years, that represents a slight increase in 2024.

In 2024, Auburn Police reported 249 use-of-force incidents, with only 0.3 percent of police contacts resulting in a use of force, and one allegation of inappropriate or excessive use of force.

According to Feero, the most frequent type of force the APD used on wayward subjects in 2024 was the tried-and-true take-down.

“All use-of-force incidents were reviewed, and none were found to be excessive or outside of policy, and only 0.4 percent of the total resulted in allegations,” Feero noted.

Also in 2024, the department determined that 17 collisions involving Auburn officers were due to officer-driver inattention, six being attributable to improper backing, one to poor tactics and two to “failure to clear an intersection.”

Discipline varies, depending on the severity of injuries — if there are any — and the dollar amount of damage.

“When we look at collisions, there are some that may not meet a state definition of collision, either by lack of injury or dollar amount. But any time our officers, backing up, strike an object, if they scratch the paint, they are required to report that,” Feero said.

One write-up for a collision results in coaching and counseling for the errant driver-officer, and a second may subject the officer to dismissal.

Also in 2024, the APD gave out a total of 66 commendations to Auburn Police personnel, among them two letters of commendation, one medal of distinction, and one life-saving medal.

“Doing good work out there,” said Feero.