Would you know when to pull the plug on a car chase that was beginning to look like a scene out of an action movie? We’re not sure we would, but that’s a decision police officers — from state troopers to your local traffic cops — face far too often for comfort.

Butler County hasn’t seen a fatal police chase in some time, but the reminders that such an outcome is a possibility are all-too frequent.

Take last week’s pursuit, in Adams Township, of a Valencia woman who was allegedly drunk and decided to lead police on a chase that ultimately ended when officers blocked her into a driveway on Jones Road.

No one was hurt, but the pursuit rubbed shoulders with motorists on Route 228 and in Middlesex Township before all was said and done — and the woman’s car, by that point, was dragging its rear bumper along the road with only wires holding things together. An unsecured rear bumper and unsteady driving is why police said they decided to pull the woman over in the first place.

Thankfully, no one was hurt before police put an end to the situation. But not everyone is so lucky.

A 2015 review of federal and state data found that more than 11,500 people have been killed in police car chases since 1979. More than half were the fleeing drivers, about 115 were police officers, and the rest were innocent bystanders or passengers.

That’s a tremendous human cost — especially when you consider that, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 92 percent of police chases since 2001 started because of a misdemeanor, traffic infraction or non-violent felony.

That flies directly in the face of recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department, which nearly two decades ago advised police departments to err on the side of caution when it comes to initiating a vehicle pursuit.

“For anyone other than a violent felon, the balance weighs against the high-speed chase,” the department wrote in 1990.

If police departments aren’t predisposed to heed the guidance of federal officials, they should at least take a look at guidelines unveiled last week by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. — which basically lay out similar ground rules.

The counterpoint to all this is that people are doing police officers a disservice by effectively second-guessing their in-the-moment decision making. It’s unrealistic to expect officers to know whether a routine traffic stop will result in the apprehension of a violent felon, the reasoning goes. Furthermore, communities expect their police forces to be effective. Letting suspects escape isn’t likely to produce more compliance from criminals.

Those are fair points to make, but the reality is that upgrades to tracking technology haven’t kept pace with other advances within departments over the years. Many local departments now have access to military surplus armored vehicles and weapons, as well as integrated information systems. But far fewer take advantage of GPS tracking systems that can reduce the need for vehicle pursuits.

If police departments want to limit risk and improve their ability to pursue fleeing suspects under circumstances that are more controlled and predictable, the technology is available and effective. County officials could even put their weight behind a grant application, and see if the federal government would foot some of the cost of getting the devices installed on police cruisers.

At the very least the county should consider taking an approach like Zappala’s, and developing a non-binding set of guidelines that lay out best-practices when it comes to vehicle pursuits. This is just as much about officers’ safety as it is about everyone else’s.