1998 Pennsylvania Police Pursuits
July 15, 1999
1998 Pennsylvania Police Pursuits
MIDDLETOWN, Pa.- In 1998, police officers in Pennsylvania engaged in a
total of 1,900 pursuits according to the 1998 Pennsylvania Police Pursuit
Report, the Pennsylvania State Data Center at Penn State Harrisburg reported.
Police pursuits were initiated for a variety of reasons. In 1998, traffic
violations accounted for 46.47 percent of pursuits initiated followed by
stolen or suspected stolen vehicles (16.26 percent) and DUI or suspected
DUI (14.42 percent).
In 1998, 68.05 percent of all pursuits in Pennsylvania resulted in arrest.
More than half of the pursuits, 57.58 percent, ended with an apprehension
at the end of the pursuit and another 10.47 percent of apprehensions
resulting from pursuits occurred some time after the pursuit. An
additional 12.89 percent of those being pursued eluded the police in their
vehicle, 6.95 percent escaped on foot, and 12.10 percent of all pursuits
were terminated for various reasons.
Of the total pursuits in the Commonwealth in 1998, 58.11 percent involved
the arrest of one violator, while 7.37 percent involved the arrest of two
violators, 1.52 percent involved the arrest of three violators, and 0.52
percent involved the arrest of four violators. In 32.47 percent of the
total pursuits in that year, no one was arrested.
The majority of Pennsylvania's police pursuits in 1998 involved automobiles
(71.42 percent) followed by vans, pickups or sport utility vehicles
(18.05 percent), and motorcycles (7.74 percent). Most pursuits in that
year exclusively involved marked police vehicles (85.16 percent), while
9.74 percent involved both marked and unmarked police vehicles and 5.10
percent involved only unmarked police vehicles.
Wendy Sweigart of the Pennsylvania State Data Center stated, "When most
people envision a police pursuit, they picture the type of action normally
depicted in the movies and on television. The statistics in the 1998
Pennsylvania Police Pursuit Report show that police pursuits are not
actually very common and most often end without injuries or
property damage."
The number of pursuits resulting in injuries in the Commonwealth in
1998 was 252 or 13.26 percent. Of those injuries, the violators were
injured 69.45 percent of the time while 20.64 percent of those injured
were police. Uninvolved peopled were injured in 9.9 percent of the
police pursuits resulting in injury.
Of all the police pursuits in 1998, 99.53 percent of the pursuits
were non-fatal; however, 0.47 percent of 1998 police pursuits resulted
in a fatality. Ten people died in the Commonwealth in 1998 during 9
fatal police pursuit crashes. Seven of the 1998 fatal pursuits involved
a fatality to the violators involved. The remaining two fatal crashes
in 1998 resulted in deaths to uninvolved drivers. No police fatalities
occurred in 1998 due to police pursuits.
During the year, violators in Pennsylvania incurred a total of
$537,600 in damages for an average of $282.95 in damage per pursuit,
while the police incurred approximately $179,300 or $94.37 in damage
per pursuit. Uninvolved persons incurred $104.63 of damage per
pursuit resulting in a total of $198,800 in damage costs for the
year. Collectively, the average cost of a pursuit in the Commonwealth
during 1998 was approximately $481.95.
The Pennsylvania State Data Center is the Commonwealth's official source of
population and economic statistics and services. It is based at Penn
State Harrisburg's Institute of State and Regional Affairs. The
Pennsylvania State Data Center is part of the U.S. Census Bureau's
National State Data Center Program.
Editors: For more information, contact Amy Jonas at the Data Center's State
Capital Office, (717) 772-2710, or the Penn State Harrisburg's Public
Information Office, (717) 948-6029.
Source of Information: 1998 Pennsylvania Police Pursuit
Report, Pennsylvania State Police
Accompany Chart: Outcome of Police Pursuits: 1997 and 1998
Accompany Chart: Reasons for Police Pursuit Initiation: 1997 and 1998