For those awakened by early-morning police sirens two weeks ago, many may have thought a dramatic police chase was happening.
It was indeed a police chase — but not as dramatic as you may have thought seeing the various blockbuster action movies in the theatres this summer.
“I think it distorts peoples’ expectations when you see what is on the movie screen. They see high-powered vehicles with highly-trained drivers going through controlled courses with staged situations with vehicles rolling,” said Alf Rudd, police chief for the Taber Police Service. “It doesn’t happen that way. Traffic accidents are ugly and never look as dramatic as it does on TV. It does create that distorted expectation where you’re driving a vehicle with 150,000 kilometres on it with a six-cylinder engine. It’s really not Steve McQueen out there.”
According to a drafted agreement of principles that was formulated by research by various police forces across the province, any decision to initiate, continue, or discontinue a pursuit must be based primarily on public safety.
The consideration surrounding public safety may change rapidly and must be continually assessed.
Any doubt in the minds of those involved as to the justification of the pursuit or the continuance of the pursuit must be resolved in favour of public safety.
“The public safety involves those in the vehicle and the police officers themselves as well,” said Rudd.
In the incident the Taber Police Service were involved with concerning 44-year-old Richard John Dewar on July 29, it involved a non-criminal act like with a Traffic Safety Act of a suspended licence. In that case a high speed pursuit is done only mainly to identify the driver and vehicle.
Taber Police did get the plate number in the chase and identified the driver. Knowing it was a wanted vehicle with the traffic stop, Dewar took off.
“There were two units on the road at the time and they each played a role by protocol,” said Rudd. “The decision was made very quickly in that case to shut it (the pursuit) down. These pursuits are initiated once all safety concerns are considered.  These will be called off sooner than a criminal matter, but only once the vehicle is identified, or as in all cases at the safety threshold. ”
In the numerous police pursuits Rudd has been involved in, one involved a suspect who had left a dead body at the scene and taken another person hostage who he said he was going to kill.
“In our protocol, nothing is cut and dry. That pursuit went for miles and miles on gravel roads and the Number 1 Highway. He ended up flipping the car in a slew and killed himself. The other person was already dead in the vehicle. A case like that, it’s a chase until the end just because the stakes are so high,” said Rudd. “All chases create a level of danger for everybody.”
There are various factors police have to consider when taking up a police pursuit.
Some include the seriousness of the offence, methods of apprehension available, road weather conditions, traffic congestion and whether the pursuit is residential, commercial, rural or highway, how the suspect is operating the vehicle and number of innocents in the vehicle.
“Each time a pursuit is initiated, there is a pursuit supervisor appointed immediately. When an officer engages in a pursuit, the first thing he does is announce it to the control centre. The control centre protocol is to contact a senior member to become the supervisor,” said Rudd.

“You have that person who is not making adrenaline-charged decisions who are chasing in the moment. The decision maker is not the one behind the wheel. He is the information provider relaying the information back to the pursuit supervisor. The decision the driver can make is ‘I’m done”, I’m shutting this down and everyone respects that. The pursuit supervisor has that authority too.”
The Traffic Safety Act stipulates that you must stop for a police siren. The flashing lights are usually sufficient enough to pull someone over, but the threshold of getting an added offence which Dewar got of obstructing a peace officer is when the sirens come into play. Dewar will also be facing a Criminal Code offence of criminal flight in a vehicle along with assaulting a peace officer, disqualified driving and dangerous driving involving police pursuits in both Taber and another one originally in Lethbridge with its police service.
“In our protocol, there are interjurisdictional concerns as well. You pick up a vehicle in Taber and it’s not long before you are in RCMP jurisdiction or back into Lethbridge. I’ve seen venues change five or six times (in a pursuit),” said Rudd.
Rudd added each police pursuit is reviewed, field and audited in the province.
“Police pursuits are taken very, very seriously.”