No Police Chase Of Motorcyclists In Fairfax County A Possibility

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — The chief of the Fairfax County Police Department suggested the county may decide to adopt a policy against pursuing motorcycle drivers that are traveling at extremely high speeds on county highways as part of the department’s review of its highway pursuit polices.

In May, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis presented a proposed new policy to the county’s board of supervisors. Davis said the change would put the county in line with laws in place in other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

The new policy would eliminate the ability for Fairfax County officers to chase a vehicle for only a traffic violation. It also eliminated chases in the case of misdemeanors.

As proposed by the police department, Fairfax County police officers would continue to chase vehicles involved in a violent felony or a serious crime with the threat or use of violence. Also, a provision in the department’s current policy that allows the pursuit of motorcycles would remain in place, according to the draft policy.

But in a July 26 interview with 106.7 The Fan, Davis suggested the pursuit of motorcycles may get removed from the draft police pursuit policy.

“I don’t want to knock on someone’s door at 4 o’clock in the morning and say your loved one died … because we’re chasing a motorcycle,” Davis said in the interview.

Davis added that technology often can identity the motorcyclists that are traveling at high speeds.

On area highways, motorcyclists are increasingly driving aggressively, weaving in and out of traffic and traveling at speeds well above 100 mph.

According to the Fairfax County Police Department’s draft policy, Loudoun and Prince William counties are the only jurisdictions in the D.C. metro area that currently have a policy against pursuing motorcyclists that are speeding.

Fairfax County, along with Arlington County, the city of Alexandria, Montgomery County, Maryland, and Prince George’s County, Maryland, currently have policies that allow police officers to pursue speeding motorcyclists.