By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• The Tampa Police Department revised its vehicle pursuit policy to bar officers from asking other agencies to start pursuits Tampa policy wouldn’t allow.
• The update follows a November 2025 pursuit by Florida Highway Patrol troopers that ended in a fatal crash in Ybor City, killing four and injuring 13.
• The department also took back city police radios previously issued to state troopers pending review and new communications protocols.
• The revised policy now prohibits requests for other agencies to engage in pursuits under circumstances Tampa policy forbids.
• Future interagency communications will be centrally coordinated through Tampa police channels, officials said.
TAMPA, FL — The Tampa Police Department has updated its pursuit policy and revoked radios previously issued to Florida Highway Patrol personnel to clarify that its officers cannot ask other agencies to initiate vehicle pursuits that would be prohibited under Tampa policy, officials said.
The reforms were outlined in an internal memo released this week by the department as part of an ongoing review of a November 2025 vehicle pursuit by state troopers that culminated in a crash in the city’s Ybor City neighborhood, killing four people and injuring 13.
Under the revised rule, Tampa officers are expressly barred from requesting that another agency engage in or continue a pursuit when the department’s own policy would not authorize such action, whether through direct or indirect communication, including by radio or other devices.
As a precautionary measure while the review continues, the department has taken back eight portable radios that had been issued to state patrol officers and updated its guidance to restrict issuing city radios to outside agency personnel without high-level authorization.
The policy shifts aim to align pursuit practices with the city’s stricter pursuit criteria and ensure that interagency communications adhere to Tampa’s operational standards, officials said, with future coordination handled through the department’s primary communications division.