A stolen black truck being chased by Council Bluffs police slammed into a FedEx truck at 24th Street and Veterans Memorial Highway just after midnight on October 28, leaving the stolen vehicle's driver with a broken leg and other non-life-threatening injuries. The FedEx driver walked away without serious injuries. The crash became the backdrop for a policy shift the department had already been weighing: new restrictions on when officers can chase a fleeing vehicle at all.
What Changed And Why
Before the update, Council Bluffs Police Department's pursuit policy had no restrictions, meaning officers could chase a driver even after a minor offense, according to KETV. Police Chief Matt Davis said the October 28 crash still met the department's new guidelines, since both the stolen vehicle and the act of fleeing police counted as felonies. Going forward, the station reports, officers responding to simple traffic offenses or misdemeanors will lean on dashboard cameras and intersection red-light cameras instead of initiating a chase.
Davis said the goal is to take some of the split-second decision-making off officers' shoulders, since the department is continually evaluating its approach to pursuits, per the same report. He framed the shift bluntly: the department doesn't want high-speed chases triggered by something like running a stop sign or stealing a candy bar. The city's existing red-light camera system, which Council Bluffs says lets police monitor more intersections with fewer officers on the street, gives the department another way to catch lower-level violations without a chase, according to the City of Council Bluffs.
A Chief's Personal Stake
Davis said the tools will still catch lawbreakers while helping keep others safe from the dangers pursuits can create, and that police will continue holding people accountable for breaking the law in the community, the station's report notes. He also urged motorists to slow down and move over when they see emergency vehicles or other vehicles stopped on the shoulder. Davis said he has lost colleagues who were struck roadside, a loss that appears to inform his push to limit unnecessary chases.
How Iowa's Pursuit Rules Compare
Council Bluffs isn't alone in rethinking when a chase is worth the risk. The Iowa Department of Public Safety's own motor vehicle pursuit policy, which took effect in October 2025, states that a pursuit is justified only when an officer believes the risk to the public without an apprehension outweighs the risk created by the pursuit itself, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. That same policy requires officers to end a pursuit once a suspect's identity is established for later arrest, as long as there's no immediate threat to public or officer safety, and bars officers from following a fleeing vehicle traveling the wrong way on an interstate, freeway, or bypass. The agency also uses an annual pursuit analysis to guide training and policy updates.
A review by the Des Moines Register of 13 Iowa pursuit policies found that officers can call off a chase and still be in compliance with department rules, identifying 11 reasons agencies commonly cite for ending one, including high speeds, proximity to a school or residential area, and poor visibility from weather or darkness. The same review cited estimates that 30% to 40% of police pursuits end in crashes, with about 1% resulting in death.
A Data Gap Statewide
How often that risk plays out in Iowa is hard to quantify. No group or database collects pursuit-injury information at the state level, according to KCRG, which also reported that national pedestrian injuries during police pursuits rose 5% between 2023 and 2024, citing NHTSA data. That absence of statewide tracking means there's no local figure showing whether Council Bluffs crashes like the October 28 collision are becoming more or less common, even as the department moves to narrow when its officers give chase.
