On Friday, Mar. 17, 2023, Burien Police Chief Ted Boe posted a statement on Facebook, expressing his angst with restrictions placed on police by the Washington State Legislature under RCW 10.116.060, enacted in 2022.

The law restricts police from vehicular pursuit, and in this specific instance, restricted Burien / King County Sheriff’s Officer Deputies from pursuing two suspects who were caught in the act of committing a second burglary against a Burien business Friday morning.

“While I have no doubt the law is well intended, this morning your Burien Police Officers located two people in the act of committing their second commercial burglary in a matter of hours and had to let them drive away,” Boe said. “The victim businesses are out thousands of dollars. Officers did everything in their power to apprehend the suspects, but the law doesn’t allow the officers to pursue criminals under these circumstances.”

The businesses that were burglarized appeared to include Tobacco Mart at 14400 Ambaum Blvd SW, and Hellen’s Hair Salon at 17730 Ambaum Blvd S.

Here’s the full text of Boe’s statement:

I rarely express my angst on social media, but today as your police chief find myself incredibly frustrated with the restrictions placed on police by the Washington State Legislature under RCW 10.116.060, enacted in 2022.

While I have no doubt the law is well intended, this morning your Burien Police Officers located two people in the act of committing their second commercial burglary in a matter of hours and had to let them drive away.

The victim businesses are out thousands of dollars. Officers did everything in their power to apprehend the suspects, but the law doesn’t allow the officers to pursue criminals under these circumstances.

That’s right – under state law, burglary is not a Class A felony and therefore we are not allowed to engage in a pursuit, to include using legal intervention methods such as the Pursuit Immobilization Technique (PIT) or spike strips.

Your officers are trained to safely end pursuits using these tactics but are not given that opportunity under the currently law except under very limited circumstances.

As the suspects removed all identifying information from the vehicle and obscured their faces, there are few investigative leads in this case and those responsible will likely not be brought to justice.

I applaud our officers for doing everything in their power to catch these criminals and feel for the businesses left to pay for the damages.

– Chief Boe

Photos courtesy Burien Police Department.

Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.

3 replies on “Burien Police Chief Ted Boe expresses his angst over pursuit law after police had to let 2 burglary suspects go”

  1. Sorry Chief, we value our community members lives more than property. You say your officers are trained, but the other driver is not and training doesn’t account for everything. Chases kill people and cause more damage.

    1. Burien Police in the recent past lost a police issued rifle while chasing a nonviolent offender. Losing police rifles is a danger to our community. Chief Boe might as stand out in the streets handing out free guns to anyone and everyone who wants one.

      1. The law doesn’t prevent cases like you suggest, where there is imminent threat to the community. The barrier for an allowable chase under the RCW isn’t even that high. However, *police chases themselves* are an imminent danger to our community, and lost property is not an excuse to risk innocent lives.

        Your wildly imaginative rhetoric about handing out guns is just needless fear mongering, and hopefully everyone reading this will understand that.

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