Thirty cops have been warned this year by NYPD brass about how they conduct car chases, raising questions about safety measures taken by the department when it goes after fleeing suspects.
The data, contained in NYPD reports covering the first half of the year, reveal that the 30 cops were subjected to what police call intervention — anything from retraining to stricter supervision to a transfer.
Just two NYPD cops received intervention over vehicle pursuits in all of 2022.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which tracks NYPD reports, called the spike in warnings a troubling sign.
“Given how dangerous police pursuits are for pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and officers, the NYPD needs to issue and enforce detailed rules limiting chases,” said NYCLU Legal Director Christopher Dunn. “The Police Department also must end the secrecy around car chases and release information about the number of car chases, the circumstances of those chases, and what the NYPD is doing about officers who violate controlling guidelines.”
The warnings came to light in reports from the NYPD’s Early Intervention Program. City Council members began pushing for the program in 2015 after an NYPD officer with a history of excessive force complaints tackled former tennis star James Blake outside a Midtown hotel in a case of mistaken identity.
The program was finally established in 2020 in a package of police reform bills the Council passed in response to the protests over George Floyd’s death. The data reports issued by the program are required by a 2020 local law.
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ShutterStock An NYPD badge. (Shutterstock)
The program is not designed to discipline cops but rather “to mentor and coach officers by providing support to ensure each officer performs their duties in a manner that adheres to the mission and values of the department,” the NYPD said in a statement, adding that supervisors recognize the benefits of ordering an intervention.
The NYPD has no formal definition of a vehicle pursuit — though a working group should have one by year’s end — and has no data regarding how many pursuits its officers have been involved in.

The NYPD this past summer tweaked its approach to vehicle pursuits, opting to use drones and other forms of technology to track fleeing suspects, particularly those sought for less serious crimes. It is also communicating more with suburban authorities about suspects heading into or out of the city and opting when possible to have cops create roadblocks ahead of a suspect rather than speed behind them.
The measures, put in place to reduce the risks posed by pursuits, were taken after several incidents made headlines.
In August, a 20-year-old man behind the wheel of a stolen SUV was slowly approached by police at E. 45th St. and Second Ave. during the evening rush hour. But the suspect sped off, hitting a bicyclist, a yellow taxi and numerous pedestrians. He then made a U-turn at Lexington Ave. and E. 42nd St., drove against traffic and hit another SUV before he was arrested.
Less than an hour earlier, an unlicensed driver slammed his minivan into a pedestrian on the Lower East Side as police trailed him.
The back-to-back crashes followed a public pronouncement that police, as part of a more aggressive approach during the Adams administration, were not going to let every fleeing suspect get a pass.
“People thinking they can take off on us — those days are over,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a news conference in July, “The days of driving around this city, lawless, doing what you think you’re going to do — those days are over.”
In both August incidents, police said, officers were not speeding and tried to alert other officers the driver was heading their way. Since then, however, there has been a reemphasis on assessing the danger posed by the suspect, with an eye on being less aggressive pursuing those not considered violent or a danger to the community.