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What this doesn't address: * The joyriding trend (example: "Kia Boys") made popular by tiktok. Some departments are seeing thefts go up 10-fold. These kids pur
by KennyBlanken 4y ago
What this doesn't address:
* The joyriding trend (example: "Kia Boys") made popular by tiktok. Some departments are seeing thefts go up 10-fold. These kids purposefully drive incredibly recklessly and at speeds that are easily lethal to them, other people in cars, motorcyclists, pedestrians, cyclists...even people nowhere near the road. These cars are being driven so fast that they'll get in a crash and go flying into people's houses, businesses, etc.
* Cases where the driver is unknown, or not known to a standard that would hold up to scrutiny in court. This is already a huge problem with a lot of hit-and-run cases in the US, because police might be able to prove a car was involved, but not who was behind the wheel. Stopping the driver/car eliminates that issue.
* Cases where the driver represents an active threat to public safety. People under the influence, having a psychotic break, are suicidal, or fleeing because they just committed a very serious crime such as deadly assault or homicide
I think this whole problem came about from the auto industry conditioning us to accept all the hazards of motor vehicles as somehow normal or different from, say, any other crime. Kill someone with a car? "Vehicular" homicide, which almost always carries lesser penalties than homicide by any other means? WTF.
If I wave a gun around in a crowded public area, I can expect to run a good chance of being shot to death by police.
But if I run from a traffic stop, barreling down the streets at twice or three times the speed limit, representing a lethal danger to everyone else on the road (and sidewalks, and inside businesses nowhere near the road...), it's somehow excessive force to immediately terminate that chase by any means necessary?
Even when we have extensive evidence that people fleeing from traffic stops are a massive danger to the public? Chase termination policies don't really help, do they? When plenty of idiots keep running to "put some distance on"?
I saw a video of UK cops chasing a teen in a stolen car, and it's clear he's going for an onramp to an expressway, the cop in the chase car declares over the radio that he's basically going to purposefully crash the kid's car off the road, because otherwise he's going to be a lethal danger. The kid goes for the onramp, and then ram him, hard, into the ditch, probably totaling the police car - but likely saving someone's life, possibly the kid himself.
I've also noticed that UK police are highly competent at using multiple vehicles to bring a suspect to a stop. Watching US police chases, it's a fucking clown show - you could play the benny hill music and it wouldn't feel out of place. US cops are comically incompetent at stopping a vehicle, even when they've got a dozen vehicles to do so with. Police in many countries will simply blockade a road, but I've never seen that done in the states, either....
I'm quite progressive on a huge number of social issues but if you run from police and operate your vehicle in a way that represents a lethal danger to the general public, police should treat it like they would any other lethal threat to public safety. IE terminate the chase, immediately. And I frankly don't give a shit about anything except minimizing danger to the public as quickly as possible
- nkurz 4y agoAs an American I tend to think of European and British police as being less violent, because they are frequently not carrying firearms, but their tactics with vehicles are often much more violent than would be allowed in the US. As an example, here's an NYT article from 5 years about about "tactical contact", which is used by the UK police to ram thieves on motorcycles and scooters: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/uk-police-ramming-moped-video.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/uk-police-ra... And here's a older Spanish video showing an extremely effective approach at stopping a fleeing motorcycle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LiyX-0YvfY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LiyX-0YvfY. As a generally law abiding citizen, this would make me feel safer around the police than the American approach with guns.