@jegga said in Alternative needed from the absolute crap of stuff.co.nz:

Ffs stuff

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/109924118/the-faces-of-fatal-police-chases-teens-make-up-half-of-crash-victims

For most of my fifteen years as a first response copper in Qld I have been navigating a restrictive pursuit policy. Gradually over the years more and more restrictions have been placed on police, leading to what we effectively have now – a no pursuit policy. This is not strictly true, police are allowed to pursue if there is a proven imminent threat to life (not allowed to use officer instinct) and the risks of not pursuing outweigh the risks of pursuing. Without having the policy in front of me to quote, the way it is written there are very few scenarios that would allow police to pursue in accordance with the pursuit policy. Instructions from the police union are very clear – do not pursue because if it goes wrong the officers involved risk having the book thrown at them, criminally and civilly.

So how did Qld get to this point? We followed the same path NZ seems to be going along. There would be pursuits where the fleeing motorist crashed and died and the media would report them. There would be sounds bites from a member of the public or a family member saying if police hadn’t pursued little Johnny would still be alive. Channel Nine and the Courier Mail were two media outlets that couldn’t resist being vocal in their opposition towards pursuits. As more people died during pursuits the State Coroner started pointing the finger at police. It all came to a head a few years ago when a school girl (thirteen I think) was struck and killed by a fleeing driver as she walked home from school.

Early in my career (when we still pursued) I experienced the wrath of an old lady following a pursuit. My partner and I had been patrolling through a petrol station when a vehicle caught our eye. It was being driven by a male and there was a female in the passenger seat. We attempted to intercept the vehicle but the driver fled. We pursued for about fifteen minutes (that is actually a long time for a pursuit) before the vehicle lost control and wrecked it’s tyres on a gutter. The driver decamped on foot and we eventually ran him down. Upon walking him back to our police vehicle we were set upon by an angry older female. While she was spraying vitriol at us I saw a younger female standing behind her holding a baby. Then it dawned on me. The old lady was the grandmother of the baby, the younger female was the female who had been the passenger in the fleeing vehicle and the baby belonged to the female passenger and the male driver. The baby had been in the vehicle during the pursuit. The old lady was giving it to us, no holds barred. “How dare you chase a car while there was a baby in it” or words to that effect. I recall the pure hatred in her eyes and the spittle coming from her mouth as she unleashed on us. In her mind we had put her baby grandchild at risk by pursuing her son in-law and daughter. There were two people who knew there was a baby present during that pursuit and those two people were not in the pursuing police car. If we had a known there was a baby in the car that day we would not have pursued, but there was no way in hell we were going to convince the grandmother of this. And it was all because the driver had a suspended licence.

Nowadays we have effectively handed over the streets. Gangs of youths go on their crime sprees in stolen vehicles and we are virtually powerless to stop them. They drive around like fluffybunnies. It seems like nary a shift goes by without an instance of a vehicle failing to pull over for police. Stolen vehicles are seen roaming the streets every night, but there are restrictions placed on us that can stop us even attempting to intercept those stolen vehicles. It has come to a point where I (and numerous over officers I have spoken to) think twice about patrolling for a stolen vehicle that has been reported to us for fear of things going wrong, our every move scrutinised and us being hung out to dry. More often than not, we keep well away from the area the stolen car is in.

I haven’t seen any stats, but anecdotally it seems like instances of vehicles being driven directly at police have increased since the restrictive pursuit policy. The grubs know that if they are being closed in on by police all they have to do is get out of the immediate area and they will be home and dry. They will do anything to get away.

People say why don’t police arrest the driver later? It’s not that easy. A lot of the cars are stolen and even if you recognise the driver you still have to convince a magistrate. And that is very hard when all you had was a fleeting glimpse as the car sped away. If the cars aren’t reported stolen at the time of an evade, you can bet your arse they will be reported shortly afterwards. Old matey drives off from police and then shits himself thinking police got his number plate. No worries, all old matey needs to do is dump the car somewhere and report his car stolen. Tell police he must have left his front door unlocked and some grub came in and got the car keys and stole the car. It’s pretty bloody hard to prove otherwise.

It has been many years since somebody has been killed during a police pursuit in Queensland. I am conflicted as to whether police should be pursuing with the way society is today. I make it quite clear to younger officers, don’t fucking pursue. It is not worth your job, your house, and your freedom. On the one hand the roads have turned into a free passage for the grubs and it fucking bugs me. I could provide examples of grubs that have been in police sights, have been allowed to get away because of the pursuit policy and have subsequently caused injury or worse to innocent people. On the other hand, no innocent parties have been killed during pursuits. I couldn’t give a shit if the fleeing grubs kill themselves, but I care about the innocent people who are hit by these grubs. Innocent people acceptable collateral damage? What if that person is one of your loved ones? Still acceptable?

And there is one last powerful motivating factor for police departments around the world to head towards a restrictive pursuit policy. They are scared of getting sued when things go wrong.

The Silver Fern

Crazy Horse