State Representative Ajay Pittman of Oklahoma City seeks to conduct Interim Study on high-speed police pursuits

0
258

The Metropolis Sentinel, Workers Report 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Ajay Pittman, D-Oklahoma Metropolis, submitted an Interim Examine request to Home Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, to higher perceive the insurance policies that define how Oklahoma legislation enforcement responds to a high-speed pursuit.

The legislator from Home District 99, in east Oklahoma Metropolis, is main the cost to deliver stakeholders from all sides of the dialogue to the desk. Within the request, Pittman highlighted three areas of focus for the examine:

  1. Study the causes and insurance policies that warrant the approval of high-speed chases in metropolitan areas.
  2. Expose the aftermath of victims, and establish how information assortment is saved and analyzed.
  3. Discover choices and options to preventative measures that can enhance the outcomes of leaving harmless victims behind.

“I hope to discover a coverage that’s protected for the general public and the responding officers,” Pittman mentioned. “We regularly see points in black and white, however my job as a legislator is to assist facilitate conversations to assist us discover widespread floor. Now we have seen a number of accidents and fatalities on account of high-speed chases in extremely populated areas.”

Based on Pittman, the target of this examine is to provide a voice to these residents which were affected by these accidents in addition to deal with the considerations of the legislation enforcement members who serve them.

Pittman seeks to take a look at the insurance policies that different states and huge cities have applied to guard residents. She presently serves on the Transportation Appropriations and Price range, and the Public Security Appropriations and Price range committees. 

Public security is one in all Pittman’s prime priorities for Oklahoma.

“We might get into this examine and notice what works for some cities or counties in Oklahoma might not work in others,” Pittman mentioned. “That’s okay. What issues to me and I imagine my fellow lawmakers is that we get public enter and put a coverage in place that promotes the security of all Oklahomans.”

The examine request comes within the wake of a sequence of deaths and accidents in Oklahoma involving officers in pursuit of a dashing automobile. Pittman’s aim is to share these greatest practices that would scale back the variety of accidents and deaths.

“There are points that should be addressed,” Pittman mentioned. “There are considerations relating to a lot of these insurance policies, in addition to the transparency round them. This examine is just not being requested to sentence anybody. Our focus is to search out methods to resolve our public questions of safety, forestall deaths, and higher serve our communities statewide.”

Senate Interim research have been authorised, however a choice on interim research for the Home might not come till July 25. 

Rep. Pittman encourages residents, together with members of public security organizations, to achieve out to her workplace in the event that they want to take part within the examine.