Houston Police to Use New Vehicle Maneuver in Car Chases

Earlier this week, Chron.com posted a photo on their Facebook page to show the new move Houston Police will use when trying to end a car chase. They will be implementing the “PIT maneuver” which involves chasing the criminal, pulling alongside their vehicle, knocking the back end of their car at an angle, and causing a collision and spin to end the pursuit.

Click2Houston.com explains that PIT stands for Pursuit Intervention Technique, and it’s used across the country in several police departments. The maneuver will be taught to a select number of officers. Police Chief Art Acevedo said this should help to lower crime. “To the crooks out there that like to run from the police, especially if you’re on your own wheels, I got news for you: We now added another tool to bring you to justice. So, do yourself a favor. Pull over, surrender (and) face the consequences, because I guarantee you (that) if you kill someone — innocents, bystanders — in a pursuit, we are going to push really hard to charge you with murder,” he said during the PIT demonstration at the HPD Training Academy.

Since the beginning of 2012 to October of this year, there have been 4,831 chases involving the police in Houston. Thirty percent ended in a crash.