Sioux Falls Police are starting to use PIT maneuvers, a tactic to end vehicle pursuits

The Sioux Falls Police Department has trained and authorized about 40 officers so far to utilize the precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver, during pursuits, Lt. Nick Butler said.

The department is using a rotating training schedule to train all 300 of its officers in the pursuit tactic. Butler estimated this process will take about a year. The PIT maneuver is a technique where a pursuing law enforcement vehicle makes contact with the back of a suspect vehicle, causing the suspect vehicle to abruptly spin and come to a stop.

Butler said that as Sioux Falls grows, implementing the PIT maneuver in officer training is intended to help limit the number of police pursuits in the city. Chief Jon Thum said earlier this month that Sioux Falls is growing at about 5,000-7,000 people per year, and is projected to grow at an even faster rate in the future.

In the Midwest, among all metro areas ― regions with at least one urbanized area of 50,000 people or more ― Sioux Falls grew the fastest, at 6.3%. It ranked 171st in size nationally at 304,555.

“People are driving and going to get groceries, picking their kids up from school, going to family events and not expecting a pursuit to be coming down the road,” Butler said. “What PIT does is it gives us an option to stop that pursuit immediately.”

According to police spokesman Sam Clemens, the bulk of PIT maneuver training will take place this fall at the City of Sioux Falls Public Safety Campus.

About $20,000 was spent purchasing PIT maneuver training bumpers for police training vehicles, according to Clemens. The bumpers are designed to protect the car and driver during PIT maneuver training. In addition, PIT bumpers will replace the current push bumpers on police patrol cars, which may lead to a slight increase in cost. Immediate numbers were not available.

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Police departments across the country have different policies surrounding the PIT maneuver. The Illinois State Police Directive considers the use of the PIT maneuver at speeds higher than 40 mph or against a vehicle with less than four wheels to be use of deadly force.

The SFPD policies on pursuits and PIT maneuvers are not released to the media or the public. However, Butler said Sioux Falls officers consider the speed and center of gravity of the fleeing vehicle when deciding whether to use the PIT maneuver.

“There's a whole bunch of different things that we're going take into account,” he said. “The location, the number of people that are around, the terrain of the area that we're pursuing somebody in.”

According to Clemens, officers also consider a range of factors when choosing whether to pursue a fleeing motorist in the first place. Some of these factors include if the suspect was involved in a dangerous felony, if deadly force was used or if there is an immediate danger to the public.

Butler said the department’s policy is “very selective” on who they pursue.

“We take into account risk versus reward, right? Is the risk of the activity that we're going to take worth the reward of catching the suspect?” Butler said. “Although speeding is arguably very dangerous to the community, it doesn't necessarily necessitate a pursuit.”

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Capt. Adam Zishka, with the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office, said the sheriff’s office and SFPD can hear each other’s radio communications and monitor each other’s pursuits, offering assistance if necessary.

The sheriff’s office doesn’t currently offer PIT maneuver training, but Zishka says that could change based on how training goes for the police department.

“We're excited to see what their program leads to,” he said. “This is a very unique, very good relationship that we have with PD, and we're able to work with them on just about anything.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls Police are starting to use PIT maneuvers, a tactic to end vehicle pursuits