Michigan senator says ending police chases doesn't come down to longer sentencing

Another deadly crash following a police chase in Michigan has renewed calls for legislative change to deter offenders from fleeing. 

Democratic Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, said the problem with police high-speed chases is more complicated than simply imposing longer sentences on offenders. 

"Right now, I don't have any intention of moving a bill forward that I don't think has the intended impact, especially when we know that mandatory minimums have not worked," said Chang. 

Chang serves as chair of the state Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety. She said the data don't support the idea that lengthening prison sentences prevents people from committing crimes, like a police chase. 

"We've had years and years of actually repealing mandatory minimums because our knowledge of how our laws work or don't work has evolved over time, and so we need to be moving ahead, not backward, when it comes to our criminal justice policies," Chang said. 

According to the National Institute of Justice, it's actually the certainty of being caught that deters people more than the threat of a long time behind bars. Chang said she supports changes to police procedures to shorten or avoid police chases altogether. 

"We know that there's been a lot of different types of technology developed, maybe it's a GPS dart tag, or maybe it's a spike strip that's being used responsibly," she said.