6 ms·

In New Zealand the police adopted a (highly-publicised) policy of not continuing to chase people who drive away at high speed due to the danger it poses to the

by zb 13y ago

In New Zealand the police adopted a (highly-publicised) policy of not continuing to chase people who drive away at high speed due to the danger it poses to the public, when it is trivial to just go round to their house the next day and arrest them. The consequences of this have been as follows: 1) Now everybody runs when stopped by Police. OK, not everybody, but the rate has probably tripled. 2) After the police give up the chase, a member of the public is almost invariably killed at an intersection within 30s, since the offender is still driving at high speed but there are no longer any lights and sirens to warn the public. 3) Everyone - Police, media, politicians, the public - is genuinely confused as to why this keeps happening. Basically, you can't win :(

Volpe 13y ago
> After the police give up the chase, a member of the public is almost invariably killed at an intersection within 30s, since the offender is still driving at high speed but there are no longer any lights and sirens to warn the public. i call BS, citation?
- lostlogin 13y ago
  My perception was that the comment was correct however with a quick skim I cant produce anything more than anecdata. The police do seem to be consistently breaking their rules which dictate that the chase ends when it gets dangerous. However crashes do seem to be happen after the chase has ended rather too regularly - about 30 seconds later. Citation. Here is an editorial on the poor stats we have. An interesting aside - police chases followed by a crash kill far more people here than police guns. http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883696 http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objec...
  - Volpe 13y ago
    That states the occupants of the car die. Not some random (innocent) member of the public (as the GP stated).
  - femto 13y ago
    Is the time of the termination of a chase based on a record made by the pursuing officer? Is it also the case that it looks bad for the pursuing officer if a pursuit ends in an accident?
    - CoryG89 13y ago
      Obviously it doesn't look too good. I am thinking the same though. These crashes that happen 30 seconds after a chase has been halted are probably actually happening 30 seconds before the chase is actually halted; with the officer calling it in that they had quit just before the crash happened.
  - Lerc 13y ago
    >However crashes do seem to be happen after the chase has ended rather too regularly - about 30 seconds later. I had always assumed this was because it was standard practice to report that they had stopped chasing whenever the crashes occur. That's the rules so that's what you report.
- lostlogin 13y ago
  The non-driver occupants often aren't the person at fault. The driver is.
derda 13y ago
I don't know what the official stance here in germany is, but I talked to a member of the Autobahnpolizei (Highway Patrol) and he told me that while they have high powered cars that could follow most cars at high speed they will "give up" when hey feel they pose a danger to other drivers and concentrate on blocking exits etc. . But I have to say I have not seen a police chase in germany my whole life.
- waterlesscloud 13y ago
  I live in Los Angeles, and it happens here all. the. fucking. time. It's a cultural thing, somehow. It a) makes no sense that the criminals are running. They never get away. Were are they going? Bakersfield? And b) A chopper or drone is sufficent 9 times out of 10. Proof- they're televised. From choppers.
  - LeeHunter 13y ago
    The New Yorker had a great article about this some years ago. Unfortunately its behind a paywall, but one thing that I remember is that guys would deliberately provoke a police chase and then call their buddies who were watching the helicopter footage live on cable news. Sometimes young men will do damn near anything to be "heroes".
  - hysterix 13y ago
    Why do people make comments like these when deep down they know it's not true? >They never get away. This is false. I've personally watched los angeles based car chases where the person gets away even though there was a helicopter and units on the ground right behind him. He was able to get underneath a lot of trees in a neighborhood, jump multiple fences in a row, and completely evaded the helicopter and police units on the ground. Why do people like you make false statements like, "they never get away" when clearly people do? Do you live in some sort movie fantasy world where the "good guys always win"? Anyways, running makes sense if you already have multiple felonys and/or know your crime is large enough to meet federal prosecution.
    - 13y ago
baby 13y ago
It's forbidden to chase in Tokyo as well.
- auctiontheory 13y ago
  In Tokyo wouldn't they just be stuck in a traffic jam?

by zb 13y ago

Volpe 13y ago

> After the police give up the chase, a member of the public is almost invariably killed at an intersection within 30s, since the offender is still driving at high speed but there are no longer any lights and sirens to warn the public. i call BS, citation?

lostlogin 13y ago
My perception was that the comment was correct however with a quick skim I cant produce anything more than anecdata. The police do seem to be consistently breaking their rules which dictate that the chase ends when it gets dangerous. However crashes do seem to be happen after the chase has ended rather too regularly - about 30 seconds later. Citation. Here is an editorial on the poor stats we have. An interesting aside - police chases followed by a crash kill far more people here than police guns. http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883696 http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objec...
- Volpe 13y ago
  That states the occupants of the car die. Not some random (innocent) member of the public (as the GP stated).
- femto 13y ago
  Is the time of the termination of a chase based on a record made by the pursuing officer? Is it also the case that it looks bad for the pursuing officer if a pursuit ends in an accident?
  - CoryG89 13y ago
    Obviously it doesn't look too good. I am thinking the same though. These crashes that happen 30 seconds after a chase has been halted are probably actually happening 30 seconds before the chase is actually halted; with the officer calling it in that they had quit just before the crash happened.
- Lerc 13y ago
  >However crashes do seem to be happen after the chase has ended rather too regularly - about 30 seconds later. I had always assumed this was because it was standard practice to report that they had stopped chasing whenever the crashes occur. That's the rules so that's what you report.
lostlogin 13y ago
The non-driver occupants often aren't the person at fault. The driver is.

derda 13y ago

I don't know what the official stance here in germany is, but I talked to a member of the Autobahnpolizei (Highway Patrol) and he told me that while they have high powered cars that could follow most cars at high speed they will "give up" when hey feel they pose a danger to other drivers and concentrate on blocking exits etc. . But I have to say I have not seen a police chase in germany my whole life.

waterlesscloud 13y ago
I live in Los Angeles, and it happens here all. the. fucking. time. It's a cultural thing, somehow. It a) makes no sense that the criminals are running. They never get away. Were are they going? Bakersfield? And b) A chopper or drone is sufficent 9 times out of 10. Proof- they're televised. From choppers.
- LeeHunter 13y ago
  The New Yorker had a great article about this some years ago. Unfortunately its behind a paywall, but one thing that I remember is that guys would deliberately provoke a police chase and then call their buddies who were watching the helicopter footage live on cable news. Sometimes young men will do damn near anything to be "heroes".
- hysterix 13y ago
  Why do people make comments like these when deep down they know it's not true? >They never get away. This is false. I've personally watched los angeles based car chases where the person gets away even though there was a helicopter and units on the ground right behind him. He was able to get underneath a lot of trees in a neighborhood, jump multiple fences in a row, and completely evaded the helicopter and police units on the ground. Why do people like you make false statements like, "they never get away" when clearly people do? Do you live in some sort movie fantasy world where the "good guys always win"? Anyways, running makes sense if you already have multiple felonys and/or know your crime is large enough to meet federal prosecution.
  - 13y ago

baby 13y ago

It's forbidden to chase in Tokyo as well.

auctiontheory 13y ago
In Tokyo wouldn't they just be stuck in a traffic jam?