The Covington News receieved the following op-ed from District Attorney Randy McGinley.

Recently, the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC), the most circulated paper in our State, published what they billed as an extensive investigative report into the chase policies of the Georgia State Patrol (GSP). The “report” goes to great lengths to forget that fleeing from law enforcement and leading troopers, deputies, and officers on a high-speed chase is a crime.

Instead, the readers are told that the policies of the GSP and individual troopers are to be blamed when horrific crashes occur because of a fleeing criminal slamming into a car full of innocent people. The reality is that every chase is escalated by the person that makes the conscious decision not to stop when they see blue lights behind them. A stop sign violation only turns into a dangerous chase because the person that runs the stop signs makes the horrible, deliberate decision to flee. Despite what the AJC would like us to believe, these chases that lead to awful, and sometimes deadly, outcomes lay on the shoulders of the criminal, not on the brave men and women of law enforcement.

Under Georgia law, fleeing becomes a felony the fleeing is accompanied with an additional aggravating factor. That includes fleeing while driving in excess of 20 miles above the posted speed limit, or striking another vehicle or pedestrian while fleeing or fleeing in a manner that places the general public at risk of receiving serious injuries. If someone kills someone while they are committing a felony fleeing, Georgia law has a word for that: murder.

This is not to say that there are never times when the best course of action by law enforcement is to discontinue a chase. But hit pieces based on hindsight do little to further that conversation. If you flee with a child in your car, the responsibility for the safety of that child falls on you. If you choose to turn a simple traffic offense into a high-speed chase, that is your fault. Turning to a “no chase” policy does nothing but incentivize criminals to further break the law and endanger our communities.

Of course, we should always review and revise policies, but do so with deep thought. Train law enforcement to consider various risk factors before and during a chase. Provide better compensation to law enforcement. But do not forget who is at fault for starting a high-speed chase with law enforcement, the person who is breaking the law. It would be worth the AJC reporting that even progressive California Governor Newsom recently penned a letter to the City of Oakland asking them to rethink their restricted chase policy. As he, and many others have pointed out, criminals flee with impunity when they know that law enforcement will not chase them. Common sense should tell us such disregard for the law does not lead to safer communities.

When and to the extent law enforcement officers should chase is a discussion worth having. But attempting to put the blame on law enforcement instead of the person who intentionally puts the public at risk will not keep our families safer. I will continue to prosecute those who flee from law enforcement and endanger our families and I support those troopers, deputies, and officers that risk their own lives to keep us safe.

Randy McGinley

District Attorney

Alcovy Judicial Circuit