The Lived-Experience of Leading a Successful Police Vehicle Pursuit: A Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Inquiry

Police vehicle pursuits are inherently dangerous, rapidly evolving, and require police coordination to safely stop and arrest the suspect. Interviews of three US police officers were conducted and the descriptive phenomenological psychological method was used to analyze their naïve accounts of their lived-experiences. The psychological constituents of the experience of leading a successful chase and capture of a fleeing criminal found are: (1) Alert to Possible Car Chase, (2) Suspect Identified, (3) Anxiety and Excitement About the Chase, (4) Awareness of Primary Chase Role, (5) Radio Coordination with Others to Take Actions to Stop the Suspect, (6) Ongoing Evaluation of Chase Situation and Persistence, (7) Reading the Suspect’s Driving Behaviors, (8) Car Chase Transition to a Coordinated Physical Capture, and (9) Making Sense of the Experience Through Inquiry. Insights garnered from this study may be useful to police, policy makers, trainers and others interested in emergency and crisis decision-making.