Background

In 1984 newly elected sheriff Roger Boyle, Recently retired from the Saratoga State Police for what he called his tough on crime attitude. After the previous sheriff's failed community policing initiatve failed and crime countywide had spiked. Boyle had a landslide victory. In the next few years Boyle pursued low level crimes and was a proponent of the broken windows theory. Serving his term with much public approval. He ran unopposed in 1988. In September of 1990 Sheriff Boyle's young nephew was killed in a car accident  in Oxnard. In March of 1991 he rolled out what was then known as the "David Boyle Traffic safety initiative" which was to focus on aggressive drive enforcement. To help the officers assigned to the detail Boyle Purchased 12 Mustangs, 8 Marked 4 Unmarked. With a 5.0 and orders to write everyone these officers were a revenue generator for the county but cut back on traffic fatalities exponentially. More officers were assigned to the unit in the next 2 years as well as more mustangs were purchased. At the height of the program in 1993 there were 24 mustangs assigned to the program 12 Marked 12 Unmarked in various colors. People from all over the western Saratoga area knew that any mustang could be a cop and the pony cars struck fear into many speeders hearts. Following the discontinuation of the Mustang SSP the department bought LT1 caprices but in smaller numbers

Keisha Brown

Student, CFU

4/10/78-10/17/96

Keisha Brown was an African American student at CFU majoring in Bio. Originally a straight A student from Philadelphia, Keisha enjoyed a privileged upper middle class life and was accepted to CFU in the fall of 1996. As a high school graduation gift she received a brand new Toyota Celica. During her high school years Keisha had seen a case of police impersonation on the news where a young female driver was pulled over by an unmarked car and sexually assaulted and murdered. This fear stayed with her for the rest of her life and was rumored to be a contributing factor to her death. On the night of her death she was leaving a friends house in clinton.

Frank Beck

Deputy, SCSD

Frank Beck was a deputy assigned to the traffic unit in 1996. He was a decorated officer and was in line to be promoted to sergeant. He was first assgined to traffic in 1990 passing the motors course and the advanced driving course which qualified him to drive the mustang fleet. After several months in the unit he was one of the most active deputies. On the day of October 17th 1996 he was assigned unit 253, an unmarked dark red 1993 Ford Mustang.

The Incident on the evening of October 17th 1996.

On the evening of October 17th Deputy Beck was on patrol in Clinton. He observed a green 1996 Toyota Celcia driven by a black female roll a stop sign and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. When he activated his emergency lights the driver attempted to evade him. He activated his siren and followed her several blocks before the green Toyota gained speed and entered the expressway at which time Deputy Beck called in a pursuit and was giving permission to chase. During the chase speeds exceeded 100 MPH. When the chase neared the I-848 Interchange Ms. Brown lost control of her car striking the median and subsequently resulting in a rollover killing Ms. Brown. Upon observing the accident Deputy Beck terminated the pursuit and attempted to render aid while waiting for the arrival of SCSD. SCFD EMS arrived and pronounced Ms. Brown on arrival.

Aftermath

In the following days and weeks was protested by both CFU students and Civil rights activists calling for the disbandment of the aggressive enforcement unit and the removal of Sheriff Doyle and Deputy Beck. Stating that if it was a white driver he wouldn't have pursued so aggressively and that the SCSD change over to a no chase policy. Sheriff Doyle was accused of "Not having the right mindset to police in the 90s." after an unapologetic press conference  Due to mounting public and internal pressure Sheriff doyle announced one week later he would not run for reelection and was dropping out of the upcoming election.

Miss Brown's family filed a wrongful death suit with Shiloh county that was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. Following the election Sheriff doyle's successor Timothy Morris who was a proponent of community based policing and technology based policing. Within a week of the election he instituted a no chase policy and other community friendly policies

Deputy Beck was promoted to sergeant in early 1997 was was quietly reassigned to the county police academy as a driving instructor.

The aggressive driving enforcement was disbanded and the mustangs were retired as the newest ones were nearly 4 years old at the time. The department retained 1 intended for the EVOC school and that was disposed of in 2005.