ARDMORE, Okla. -- You see them all the time in the movies and on TV, but they are real and they do happen, even here in Texoma. There have been two high-speed police chases in just the last few days. First News reporter Robin Beal spent the morning looking into exactly how our local law enforcement is trained to deal with a suspect who just won't stop.

With the Texas side seeing two high speed chases in just the last few days and a chase last month in love county, we thought it would be a good idea to find out exactly what some departments' chase policies are.

Ardmore’s police chief enacted a policy just this month which specifically outlines who can be chased and under what circumstances. Dave Leonardo says there has been a nationwide trend in recent years to re-emphasize public safety, and he's right.

Dallas and Houston both retooled their departments' chase policies in 2006. The one Ardmore now has is very similar in principle to those major cities and allows vehicle pursuits only in the case of violent crimes.

Minor offenders may now be allowed to flee, but the chief says that does not mean a get out of jail free card if you choose to run from the cops.

"Well certainly people should not read that into it. And I’ll give you an example of one we've already had this week. An individual drove through a school zone at an excessive speed. An officer went to stop them, and they took off and the officer weighed the factors, considered the new policy, and decided not to make a pursuit. But he had a description of the vehicle and when he attempted to make a traffic stop, he had the tag number," Ardmore Police Chief David Leonardo says.

You can guess what happened next. That individual later received a visit at home from the Ardmore police.

So what about other departments?

The Sherman Police Department has a policy which allows more officer discretion in when to pursue, but also holds them accountable if they do choose to go after someone.

All the local agencies I spoke with today said the same thing again and again- public safety is always their number one concern in initiating any chase.