doc_1835954

WINDERMERE POLICE DEPARTMENT GENERAL ORDER Effective Date: December 16, 202 5  New Policy  Amends 8.3 (October 19, 2025) Number: 8.3 SUBJECT: Vehicle Apprehensions and Pursuits Print Date: 1 2/16/25 Distribution: All Personnel Review Month: October This order consists of the following: 1. Purpose 2. Policy 3. Definitions 4. Procedures 1. Purpose The purpose of this policy is to establish the guidelines for vehicle apprehensions and pursuits. 2. Policy The Windermere Police Department will make every reasonable effort to stop violators. The protection of life, both civilian and law enforcement, is the foremost concern that governs this policy. Officers must balance the need to stop a suspect against the potential threat to themselves and the public created by a pursuit or apprehension. 3. Definitions A. Active Participants – all officers who directly follow the vehicle pursuit or take overt action to stop the vehicle. B. Command Staff – A sworn supervisor or manager holding the rank of Sergeant or above that assumes tactical control/responsibility for the pursuit/apprehension event. 8.3, Page 2 C. Diversionary Traffic Stop – a system of covert vehicle maneuvers, utilizing a minimum of three vehicles, tactically parked, resulting in the immobilization of the target vehicle. D. Due Care – When a reasonably careful person, performing similar duties under similar circumstances, would act in the same manner. E. Electronic Tracking – equipment that is in a vehicle that allows it to be tracked from a remote location. This is either d one through a proprietary means or by the use of G.P.S. Satellites, or some other combination. F. Exigent Circumstances – those situations that fall outside the normal scope of operation or policy and require immediate aid or action. In exigent circumst ances, if authorized by Command Staff or above, an officer may pursue only if there is a reasonable belief that the continuing conduct of the violator presents an immediate and life threatening danger to the public, officer(s) or the violator. G. WGPD – The Winter Garden Police Department . The Windermere Police Department contracts its dispatch services through the WGPD . H. Paralleling – following a similar course as the suspect by operating on adjacent roads to where the suspect is driving. I. Primar y Pursuit Vehicle – the emergency unit that is immediately behind the suspect. J. Reasonable Suspicion – knowledge sufficient to induce an ordinarily prudent and cautious officer to believe criminal activity is at hand. It must be based on specific and ar ticulable facts which taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant intrusion. K. Secondary Pursuit Vehicle – the emergency unit that trails the primary pursuit unit. L. Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) – is the intentio nal act of using a police vehicle to physically force a fleeing vehicle from a course of travel in order to stop it. M. Tactical Parking – the positioning of one or more police vehicles, marked or unmarked, in a position to eliminate the fleeing of a susp ect vehicle from a parked position . 8.3, Page 3 N. Termination – when officers discontinue the attempt to stop and/or apprehend a suspect vehicle. O. Tire Deflation Devices – equipment designed to be placed in the path of an oncoming violator vehicle and struck by tha t vehicle. When struck the affected tires are pierced by objects that let a controlled amount of air out of the tire. These tire deflation devices are to be used only in a manner consistent with training. P. Traffic Stop – an attempt by an officer utilizing emergency equipment, hand signals, etc., to stop a motor vehicle. Q. Vehicle Apprehension Techniques – the tactics and strategies that are designed to take a suspect into custody who is in a moving or parked motor vehicle that includes, bu t are not limited to, tactical parking, diversionary traffic stops, utilization of controlled tire deflation devices, or other approved tactics. R. Vehicle Pursuit – an attempt by an officer in an authorized emergency vehicle to apprehend a fleeing suspec t who is actively attempting to elude the police. 3. Procedures A. Vehicle Apprehensions / Vehicle Pursuits 1. Officers may engage in a vehicle pursuit when they have a reasonable suspicion to believe that a fleeing suspect has committed or has attempted to commit or has a warrant for one of the below listed violent forcible felonies: a. Murder b. Manslaughter c. Sexual battery d. Carjacking e. Home invasion f. Robbery with a weapon or firearm (implied or actual ) g. Kidnapping 8.3, Page 4 h. Aggravated battery i. Aggravated assault with a firearm j. Aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer k. Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb 2. A Command Staff Member may authorize the pursuit of a vehicle, when reasonable suspicion exists, indicating a domestic security threat. This decision shall be based upon credible information from a reliable source, i.e., FBI, Homeland Security, etc. 3. A Command Staff Member may authorize the pursuit of a vehicle when exigent circumstances exist and there is a reasonable belief that the