Changing Hot Pursuit Policy

This article uses ARIMA and Tobit analysis to examine the impact on officer behavior of changes in a policy governing "hot" pursuits of fleeing suspects. Using a 2-year time series, aggregated by week, we calculated the impact on pursuit behavior of two changes in pursuit policy: a requirement that reports be submitted regarding each pursuit and a stipulation that pursuits could be conducted only under specified conditions. Each policy change produced significant reductions in the number of pursuits engaged in by officers in the department under study.