Police have been told to stop using the words "pursuit" or "chase" in media communications and instead use references to "fleeing drivers".
Southern police district road policing manager Inspector Andrew Burns said the change was a national policy that was introduced about six weeks ago.
He said police wanted to make it clear the responsibility for pursuits and their outcomes was on drivers who fled instead of stopping when police requested them to.
"It's around talking about what has actually happened."
The terminology policy was one of the recommendations from this year's review of police pursuit policy, he said.
The review, the fourth in six years, took into account the previous reviews and examined international research. It found there was insufficient evidence to support the banning of police pursuits.
Released in July, it also recommended more training for staff involved in pursuits, limiting the number of vehicles involved in pursuits, expanding the abandonment criteria, and abandoning pursuits once an offender's identity was known.
Debate over police policy has heightened this year with the escalating number of deaths incurred during pursuits.
As at September 25, 16 people had died in 11 pursuits - the worst year on record, The New Zealand Herald reported.
The previous highest annual total was six deaths, in 2008.
