Chicago cops are no longer allowed to chase suspects on foot over minor offenses

Chicago police officers will no longer be able to chase suspects over minor offenses, local news outlet ABC7reports.

The new rule comes more than a year after two foot pursuits ended with the fatal shootings of a 13-year-old boy and 22-year-old man. The policy will go into effect this summer.

"The safety of our community members and our officers remain at the core of this new foot pursuit policy," Superintendent David Brown said in a statement announcing the policy. "We collaborated internally with our officers and externally with our residents to develop a policy we all have a stake in."

Minor offenses such as parking violations, driving on suspended licenses, or drinking alcohol in public, will no longer warrant foot chases, but officers have some wiggle room when deciding whether or not the suspect is a threat.

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"The policy includes a number of circumstances in which an officer must call off a chase, including a requirement that the pursuit must end if a third party is injured and needs immediate medical attention that can't be provided by anyone else. If officers realize they do not know exactly where they are, which is possible in a chaotic situation in which they are running through alleys and between houses, they must stop," ABC7 reports. "And if they find themselves unable to communicate with other officers, whether because they drop their radios or for another reason, they must stop."