Jonathan Farris

BEING BETTER, NOT BITTER

Jon is President of InsuranceRescue Services and Chief Advocate for Pursuit For Change.

On May 27, 2007, Jon's life took a turn he never could have imagined... his 23-year old son, Paul, was killed. An SUV being pursued by police through several Boston suburbs struck the taxi in which Paul and his girlfriend were riding. The pursuit started as the result of an illegal u-turn and the driver's failure to stop for the officer.

Paul was dead. The cab driver died a week later. Katelyn was critically injured, but miraculously survived after four months in the hospital and years in rehabilitation. 

In 2015 Jon founded Pursuit For Change, an advocacy group working to change federal and local pursuit policies by supporting law enforcement funding and implementing pursuit reduction technology while also seeking Federal legislation to more effectively track and manage police pursuit outcomes. Prior to 2015 Jon was active with the national non-profit, PursuitSAFETY and he is Chairman Emeritus for that organization. 

Since 2007 Jon has been featured on ABC, CBN, CBS, Fox, NBC and other national and local television and print news outlets throughout the US. In 2015 Jon worked closely with USA Today journalists for a nationally featured, multi-part review of police pursuit outcomes over a 34-year period. 

Jon is a regular presenter at the Madison Police Department. Jon speaks to all Academy graduating classes with Below100 the day before those recruits hit the streets for the first time. 

In 2016 Jon worked with the Madison Police Department in the rewriting of their revised emergency vehicle operations manual and pursuit policies.

Jon lives in Madison, Wisconsin and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.